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Cnsltfiifi 3SitaUnQi for ^djooli 

^ GENERAL EDITOR 
WILBUR LUCIUS CROSS 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN YALE UNIVERSITY 




Joseph Addison 
From the painting by Kraemer 



THE 

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 
PAPERS 

FROM 

THE SPECTATOR 



EDITED BY 
NATHANIEL EDWARD GRIFFIN 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 




NEW YORK 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

1914 



330^ 






Copyright, 19 14, 

BV 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 






THE QUINN A BOOEN CO. PRESS 
RAHWAY, N. J. 

OCT 21 1914 




CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 

I. Steele and Addison vii 

II. The Tatler and the Spectator .... xv 

III. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers , . . xxlii 

Descriptive Bibliography . xxix 

Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

Mr. Spectator 3 

The Club 7 

Mr. Spectator at His Club 14 

A Lady's Library 18 

Pedantry 23 

Coverley Hall 26 

The Coverley Servants • 30 

Will Wimble^ 34 

The Coverley Portraits . ...... 38 

The Coverley Ghost 42 

Sunday with Sir Roger 47 

Sir Roger in Love 50 

Sir Roger Goes A-Hunting 56 

The Coverley Witch 62 

Sir Roger Talks of the Widow 66 

Town and Country Manners 70 

Sir Roger at the Assizes 74 

Eudoxus and Leontine 7^ 

The Evils of Party Spirit . 83 

The Evils of Party Spirit — Continued .... 88 

Sir Roger and the Gipsies 9^ 

7 



vi Contents 



i 



PAGE 



Mr. Spectator Decides to Return to London ... 96 

The Journey to London 99 

Sir Roger and Sir Andrew in Argument . . . 103 

Sir Roger Visits London 108 — 

Pin-Money 112 

Sir Roger in Westminster Abbey 117 

Sir Roger upon Beards , 121 

Sir Roger at the Play ♦. | 124 -_ 

Will Honeycomb and the Ladies • 129 

Sir Roger at Vauxhall 132 

Death of Sir Roger 136 

Notes and Comment 141 

Portrait of Addison Frontispiece 

Map of London vii 

Portrait of Steele 2 



INTRODUCTION 
I 

STEELE AND ADDISON 

The future authors of the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 
were born within two months of one another; Richard 
Steele, the elder, having first seen the light on March 12, 
1672, and Joseph Addison, the younger, on May i of the 
same year. 

Steele and Addison first became acquainted at the 
famous Charterhouse School in London. Previous to this 
early meeting, the fortunes of the two boys had been quite 
different. Steele had had much sorrow to contend with. 
Before the age of five he had lost his father, and he after- 
wards gives in the Tatler a very touching picture of his 
mother's frantic efforts to restrain him from vainly beat- 
ing with his battledore on his father's cofBn. That mother 
soon followed her husband to the grave, and it was 
through the generosity of an uncle that Steele was sent 
to the Charterhouse. Addison, on the other hand, had 
always enjoyed the fostering care of father and mother in 
an exceptionally happy and harmonious household. To 
share these domestic blessings with his less fortunate 
schoolmate, Addison would often bring Steele home with 
him for the holidays. These visits led to a strong attach- 
ment between the orphan boy and the several members of 
the Addison family. Steele afterwards writes that the 
elder Addison pronounced a '' blessing on the friendship 

vii 



viii Introduction 

between his son and me," and gives in the Toiler a de- 
lightful sketch of the home circle of his kindly benefactors. 

But the friendship thus early begun between the two 
schoolmates was not destined to bear immediate fruit. It 
was not until many years after these Charterhouse days 
that Steele and Addison again met to form that memora- 
ble literary partnership that resulted in the production 
of the Tatlcr and the Spectator, In the meantime, the 
paths of the two friends diverged, and it was, as we shall 
see, only a common passion for letters that again drew 
them together in these joint literar}- enterprises. 

Addison, though younger than Steele, preceded his 
schoolfellow from the Charterhouse to Oxford, where he 
entered Queen's College at the early age of fifteen. Some 
good Latin verses soon brought him a fellowship at Mag- 
dalen College, where he spent the remaining years of his 
Oxford life. With Magdalen the name of Addison is 
inseparably linked, a deeply shaded pathway on the col- 
lege grounds being still pointed out as " Addison's Walk." 
The brilliant promise of the young man's literary per- 
formances soon attracted the attention of the outside 
world, and he was dissuaded from an early intention of 
entering the church by a government pension of £300 to 
enable him to prepare for public life by a tour on the 
Continent. 

After four years of foreign travel, during which he sur- 
prised the famous French critic Boileau by his skill in 
Latin verse, Addison returned to England in time to cele- 
brate the victory of Marlborough at Blenheim in an 
English poem entitled the Campaign. In those days a 
man's fortune was not infrequently made by the com- 
memoration of some public event in prose or verse, and 



Steele and Addison ix 

this timely tribute to the prowess of a great national hero 
at once opened for Addison the door to political prefer- 
ment. In return for the Campaign and other poems in 
praise of the Whigs, Addison received a number of public 
appointments, eventually culminating in the office of Secre- 
tary of State, the highest political reward ever granted 
to an English man of letters. 

It was while in Ireland, as secretary to the Lord Lieu- 
tenant of that country, that Addison made the chance 
discovery that finally determined the main trend of his 
future activities. He there ran across an early number of 
a famous periodical that Steele had recently launched under 
the name of the Tatler, In this enterprise Addison at 
once perceived a congenial field for the exercise of his 
own peculiar talents, and soon joined his former school- 
fellow in the composition of the remaining portion of the 
Tatler and of the whole of the Spectator. 

In the meantime, Steele had followed Addison from 
the Charterhouse to Oxford, where he entered '' Christ 
Church " College. Within two years he was transferred 
by the intercession of friends to a scholarship at Merton 
College. But, unlike Addison, Steele did not take kindly 
to books, and after two years at Merton he abandoned 
the studious life of the cloister for the stirring life of the 
camp. Enlisting as a private in Lord Ormondes ** Horse 
Guards," he rose in the course of a few years to the dig- 
nity of captain in Lord Lucas's Regiment of Foot. Young 
*' Captain Dick," as he was famih'arly called, entered with 
zest upon the life of a soldier, at once recommending 
himself to his brother officers by a natural love of con- 
viviality and good fellowship. But becoming aware, as 
time went on, of the dangers that lurked beneath the 



X Introduction 

superficial glitter of military life, Steele composed a little 
treatise entitled the Christian Hero. This pious effusion, 
written, says the author, '' to strengthen my moral prin- 
ciples,*' was relished but little by his less scrupulous com- 
panions, and so, in order *' to enliven his character," he 
wrote a comedy under the strangely lugubrious title of 
the Funeral. This comedy, which, in spite of the title, 
contained a number of humorous passages, was performed 
before a full attendance of the author's fellow-soldiers 
and scored a marked success. The Funeral was soon fol- 
lowed by two more comedies, the Lying Lover and the 
Tender Husband, These last two comedies, however, 
were more like sermons than plays, and failed more or 
less completely on the stage. But in spite of these fail- 
ures, Steele gradually came to the conclusion that he was 
better fitted to be an author than a soldier, and it was 
not long before he abandoned the sword for the pen. 

The motives that led Steele to begin the Tatler cannot 
be determined with certainty. No doubt the desire to 
continue in a new type of literature the moral reforms 
which he had attempted in his plays was the main motive. 
Moreover, Steele had recently been appointed Gazetteer 
to the government; and the appearance in the earlier 
numbers of the Tatler of the latest items of news seems 
to indicate that the opportunity to make literary capital 
out of his official position may have operated as a secondary 
inducement. 

The Tatler, of which Steele thus became the founder 
and to which, after the accession of Addison, he remained 
the chief contributor, ran for a period of a little more 
than a year and a half. It was succeeded, after an interval 
of two months, by the Spectator, which continued to 



Steele and Addison xi 

occupy the joint attention of the two friends for a slightly 
longer period. These two periodicals, undertaken at a 
time when Steele and Addison had entered upon the full 
maturity of their powers, present the two authors at their 
best. The Tatler and the Spectator at once captivated 
the town and they have since continued to delight an ever- 
widening circle of readers. 

After the termination of the Spectator, each author 
started, independently of the other, a variety of other 
periodicals, which were short-lived and of little impor- 
tance. In but few instances did they again contribute con- 
jointly to the same paper. One of these papers was the 
Guardian, But before long Steele was led by an increas- 
ing interest in party politics to abandon the Guardian, 
and henceforth all further opportunity for a revival of 
the partnership which had produced the Tatler and the 
Spectator was brought to a conclusion. 

From this time forth various causes contributed to 
bring about a decline in the cordial relations which had 
hitherto subsisted between Steele and Addison. For one 
thing, Addison, though a stanch Whig, had endeavored 
to keep the Spectator out of politics, whereas Steele had 
shown a marked propensity to break forth *^ into the out- 
rages of party " on the slightest provocation. To facili- 
tate harmonious cooperation in the conduct of the Spec- 
tator, Addison had been willing to overlook this fault in 
his friend ; but after the discontinuance of that periodical, 
he no longer hesitated to express open disapproval of 
Steele's over-zealous partisanship. 

Furthermore, there was a fundamental difference in 
temperament between Steele and Addison, and this tem- 
peramental difference tended, as time went on, to draw 



t 



xll Introduction 

the two men further and further apart. Steele inherited 
from an Irish mother a reckless, improvident disposition, 
which constantly betrayed him into acts of indiscretion. ■! 
Consequently, although by profession a moralist and by 
nature one of the best-intentioned men in the world, he 
often found it hard to practise what he preached, and 
spent no inconsiderable part of his life *' in sinning and re- 
penting; in inculcating what was right and doing w^hat 
w^as wTong." Addison, on the other hand, had inherited 
from well-bred English parents the happy faculty of regu- 
lating his behavior by the strictest rules of propriety and 
decorum and, as a result, not infrequently found it difficult 
to tolerate in his friend irregularities to which he was 
himself a stranger. It is related, for example, that Ad- 
dison once lent Steele £i,ooo, accepting as security a mort- 
gage on Steele's house, and that, becoming provoked at 
slowness of payment, he sold the house, deducted the 
amount of his loan, and sent the balance to Steele in order, 
as he expressed it, ** to awaken his friend from a lethargy 
that must end in his inevitable ruin.'' But Steele was not 
the only one at fault. Addison likewise had defects that 
were often quite as irritating as those of his friend. Chief 
among these, as the foregoing anecdote illustrates, was a 
too frequent tendency to assume an air of conscious su- 
periority towards those whom he regarded as his n.oral 
or intellectual inferiors. This disposition was character- 
ized by Pope with a touch of malicious exaggeration when 
he describes Addison as one who would 

" Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, 
And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer.'* 

This was, naturally, of all possible traits that least cal- 



Steele and Addison xiii 

culated to conciliate a man of Steele's generous nature 
and ready sympathies. 

Furthermore, the conjugal relations of Steele and Ad- 
dison tended still further to separate them. Steele, in 
accordance with his less cautious nature, was the first to 
embark upon the uncertain seas of matrimony. Having 
lost his first wife eighteen months after marriage, he chose 
as his second helpmate, Mary Scurlock, a Welsh beauty 
and heiress of a considerable fortune. Swift's ungallant 
reference to Mrs. Steele as ^' Addison's rival " shows only 
too clearly that Addison felt himself relegated by this 
event to a secondary place in his friend's affection. More- 
over, Mrs. Steele was a lady of a somewhat imperious 
disposition, and a constant succession of domestic jars at- 
tended her efforts to control her wayward spouse. These 
quarrels between husband and wife — which, with his usual 
thoughtlessness, Steele took no pains to conceal from the 
world — can hardly have failed to irritate a man of Ad- 
dison's refined sensibilities and excessive regard for the 
conventional proprieties. Addison, on the other hand, dis- 
played his customary prudence by not marrying until late 
in life. He then contracted a dignified alliance with the 
rich and somewhat elderly Dowager Countess of War- 
wick. But, as fate would have it, Addison's conjugal pre- 
cautions proved even less successful than Steele's more 
precipitate venture. In spite of outward appearances to 
the contrary, Steele was devotedly attached to Mary Scur- 
lock and refers to her death as *' the severest blow of my 
life." Addison, on the contrary, if we may credit con- 
temporary gossip, married *' discord in a noble wife," and 
it was currently rumored that the spacious mansion of 
Holland House was too small to hold " Addison, his 



xiv Introduction 

Countess, and one guest Peace." But, unlike Steele, Ad- 
dison had too much pride to expose his domestic dif- 
ficulties to public view, and the effort to suppress them 
tended only to strengthen those habits of austere reserve 
which had always proved repellent to his warm-hearted 
friends. 

The alienation between Addison and Steele at length 
reached a climax on the occasion of Lord Sunderland's 
Peerage Bill. This measure, designed to strengthen the 
House of Lords by depriving the king of the right to 
create an unlimited number of new peers, was supported 
by Addison and opposed by Steele. In a series of papers, 
contributed respectively by Steele to the Plebeian and by 
Addison to the Old Whig, the question between the two 
was warmly but respectfully debated. Soon after the last 
gun had been fired in this pamphlet warfare, Addison 
breathed his last, on June 17, 17 19. Steele survived Ad- 
dison until September i, 1729, but without the stimulat- 
ing presence of his friend produced no further work of 
importance. 

It must ever remain a source of deep regret to the 
admirers of Steele and Addison that men who had so 
much in common should have allowed superficial differ- 
ences to separate them. While it may appear invidious to 
blame either author for what in the nature of the case 
seems to have been inevitable, it must nevertheless be con- 
fessed that Addison was more often to blame than Steele. 
The latter was by temperament more ready to forgive 
and forget than the former. Moreover, before the es- 
trangement, Steele had repeatedly paid generous tribute 
to the genius of Addison. Thus in the final number of 
the Tatler, he credits his friend with *' the finest strokes 



The Tatler and the Spectator xv 

of wit and humor " in that periodical, and in the last 
number of the Spectator not only acknowledges that Ad- 
dison contributed " many applauded strokes " to the 
Tender Husband, but also expressed the hope that *' we 
[may] some time or other publish a work, written by us 
both, which [shall] bear the name of the Monument, in 
memory of our friendship/' To words of such unstinted 
praise Addison had at no time replied in kind. We may, 
however, be permitted to conjecture that he may have 
secretly cherished kindlier feelings towards Steele than his 
habitual reticence would allow him to express. Such, at 
any rate, is the inference we may draw from the noble 
words with which he closes a memorable paper upon 
Westminster Abbey. ^* When,'' he writes, ^* I see kings 
lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival 
wits placed side by side, or the holy men who divided 
the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with 
sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, fac- 
tions, and debates of mankind." 

II 

THE TATLER AND THE SPECTATOR 

The age in which Steele and Addison lived differed 
very much from that in which we live to-day. Though 
proud of its reputation for politeness, it was, for the most 
part, an age of looseness in public and private life, of 
insincerity and superficiality, of worldliness and lack of 
spirituality. A pleasure-loving public devoted a hirgc part 
of its time to an endless round of unprofitable gaieties. 
The theater, the gaming-table, and the fashions preoccupied 



xvi Introduction 

the attention of society to the exclusion of the more seri- 
ous concerns of religion and morality. A minute ac- 
quaintance with the sprightly and none too respectable 
plays of the day, at which ladies not infrequently found 
It desirable to appear in masks, the ability to win or lose 
heavily at cards without betraying emotion and to dis- 
charge promptly a debt of honor, the exhibition of nice 
discrimination in the choice of snuff-box or gold-headed 
cane or in the regulation of such important particulars 
as the height of a head-dress, the swell of the petticoat, 
or the proper distribution of patches to rescue a grace or 
hide a blemish — such were a few of the polite accom- 
plishments of the day. The fine gentleman took a morning 
stroll in the Mall, breakfasted at a cofifee-house, gossiped 
at the club until early afternoon, dined at a tavern, gos- 
siped again at the club or coffee-house, and spent the even- 
ing at the play or gaming-table, with supper afterwards. 
The lady of fashion stayed in bed until noon, devoted the 
greater portion of the afternoon to dress, took a drive 
in the park, and then spent her evening at cards, the 
theater, or the masquerade ball. To check the spread 
of these fashionable excesses, Steele established the Tatler. 
In it he undertook to '' expose the false arts of life, to 
pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, 
and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our 
discourse, and our behavior." 

The Tatler was not, as is sometimes supposed, the first 
English newspaper. That distinction belongs to the 
Weekly News from Italy and Germanie, which was estab- 
lished in 1622. It was not until the English newspaper 
had come to include domestic as well as foreign intelli- 
gence, to appear daily as well as weekly, and to be repre- 



The Tatler and the Spectator xvii 

sented not by one single publication but by many, that 
Steele began the Tatler, The fame of that periodical is 
due, therefore, not to its priority as a news sheet, but to 
the special function which it undertook to discharge in 
the service of morality. Hitherto the English journal 
had been devoted almost exclusively to news pure and 
simple. One writer only had attempted to broaden its 
scope by introducing moral comment and social satire 
as well. That writer was the novelist, Daniel Defoe, 
who, in a monthly supplement to his Review, entitled the 
*' Scandal Club," had undertaken to express his views on 
questions of conduct and behavior. But by using too 
harsh methods of satire, Defoe failed to gain the good- 
will of the public, and the Review ended without accom- 
plishing the reforms aimed at by the author. Steele, on 
the contrary, employed a milder method of procedure, and 
thus succeeded in accomplishing the task which his able 
but less tactful predecessor had been obliged to relinquish. 
The first number of the Tatler — named by Steele '* in 
honor of the fair sex" — appeared on April 12, 1709, and 
henceforth the new journal was issued three times a week. 
With the exception of the first four numbers, which 
were distributed gratis, the price of the Tatler was one 
penny. The paper consisted of a single sheet, printed in 
double columns, the last column being left blank for the 
insertion of the latest news in manuscript. The paper 
and the presswork of the Tatler would not be tolerated 
to-day and even at that time evoked the complaint of 
" tobacco paper " and '' scurvy-letter " from an injured 
* correspondent. The majority of the first eighty papers 
bear the following motto : 



xviii Introduction 

" Quicquid agunt homines- 



Nostri est farrago libelli." 

Juvenal, Satire I, verses 85-86. 

" Whatever men do, or say, or think, or dream, 
Our motley paper seizes for its theme.'* 

Pope. 

Later this motto was either changed to another or else 
the motto was omitted altogether. 

In order to escape personal responsibility for the opin- 
ions he expressed as social censor, Steele represented the 
Tatler as the work of an imaginary character known as 
Isaac Bickerstaff. This name he borrowed from his 
friend Swift, who had used it as nom de plume in three 
humorous pamphlets written to demolish the astronomical 
pretensions of a certain quack almanac-maker named 
Partridge. In the first of these pamphlets Swift pre- 
dicted the exact hour of Partridge's death, and in the 
second and third boldly proclaimed the fulfilment of his 
prophecy, much to the dismay of the discomfited almanac- 
maker, who stoutly maintained that he was still alive. By 
providing that all contributions to the Tatler should be 
written under a name ** rendered famous through all parts 
of Europe " by the success which at once attended the 
publication of this clever hoax, Steele succeeded not only 
in availing himself of the popular interest already aroused 
by the publication of Swift's pamphlets, but also in im- 
parting to the Tatler a comic tone well suited to effect 
the moral reforms which he sought to accomplish. More- 
over, the adoption of Isaac Bickerstaff as the central figure 
in the Tatler served to bind all the papers in that peri- 
odical into a unified and harmonious whole. Further- 
more, in order to prevent Mr. Bickerstaff's observations 



The Tatler and the Spectator xix 

from growing monotonous, Steele represents that gentle- 
man as writing his papers from a variety of difFerent 
coffee-houses and as varying the topic of his discourse to 
suit the character of the conversation heard at each. Thus 
Mr. Bickerstaff writes all accounts of gallantry from 
White's, of poetry from Will's, of learning from the 
Grecian, and of news from St. James's. '^ What else," 
he adds, *' I have to offer on any subject shall be written 
from my own apartment." 

Although Steele invented the design of the Tatler, as- 
sumed entire editorial responsibility for its conduct, and 
wrote with his own hand the larger part of its contents, 
he nevertheless received, as time went on, very material 
assistance from Addison. Steele had begun the Tatler 
without the knowledge of his friend, but in an early num- 
ber Addison recognized Steele's hand in a Virgilian quota- 
tion he had once given him, and it was not long before he, 
too, became a regular contributor. Under Addison's 
influence, the somewhat tedious items of news, which 
had previously constituted about one-third of each Tatler, 
were now gradually abandoned and each paper came to 
be devoted exclusively to moral comment and social satire. 
Addison also wrote for the Tatler a number of papers 
distinguished by a delicacy of humor and a breadth of 
observation beyond the reach of Steele, who afterwards 
said of the assistance his friend had given him: '* I fared 
like a distressed prince who calls in a powerful neighbor 
to his aid; I was undone by my auxiliary; when I had 
once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence 
on him." 

Having run to the number of two hundred and seventy- 
one papers, the Tatler came to an abrupt conclusion on 



XX 



[ntroductlon 



January 2, 171 1. Although Steele states that he has 
discontinued the Tatler because Mr. Bickerstaff's identity 
has been discovered, it seems more probable that he was 
led to this step partly from a sense that the paper had 
outlived its novelty and partly from a desire to start a 
new periodical to be planned and conducted conjointly 
with Addison. 

The Spectator first appeared on March i, 171 1, and, 
unlike the Tatler, was issued daily, Sundays excepted. 
The price of the new journal was at first one penny, but 
this price was afterwards raised to two pence on account 
of a stamp tax imposed by the government. In form 
the Spectator closely resembled the Tatler, save that it 
contained different mottoes at the head of each paper, and 
omitted the news items at the end. 

In the Spectator Steele and Addison undertook to carry 
on the same crusade against folly and extravagance that 
Steele had already begun in the Tatler, To accomplish 
this object the two friends contrived a design very similar 
to that of the Tatler. In place of the imaginary Mr. 
Bickerstaff, they substitute, as a central and unifying 
figure, an equally imaginary Mr. Spectator, under whose 
signature all contributions to the new periodical are 
written. Similarly, in place of the different coft'ee-house 
addresses by which Mr. Bickerstaff had sought to diversify 
his observations, Mr. Spectator is provided with certain 
club associates who engage him in discussions that relate 
to their respective interests. In actual execution, however, 
only the first part of this program was carried out with 
any approach to consistency. For, whereas Mr. Spectator 
uniformly appears as the imaginary author of each paper, 
that gentleman more often parts company with his club 



4 



The Tatler and the Spectator xxi 

associates and discusses subjects suggested neither by them 
nor by the interests which they represent. Only in that 
small group of papers which concern Sir Roger de Cover- 
ley, his chief club associate, is Mr. Spectator brought at 
all frequently into relation with the several members of 
his club. Elsewhere he almost invariably proceeds, with- 
out the aid of these gentlemen, to express his own inde- 
pendent views on a variety of different topics, literary 
as well as social and moral. 

The Spectator ran to the number of five hundred and 
fifty-five papers, and appeared for the last time on Decem- 
ber 6, 17 12. In the final numbers appear remonstrances 
from interested readers who are supposed to divine the 
approaching termination of the paper. The members of 
a certain club write: ^' We cannot without sorrow reflect 
that we are likely to have nothing to interrupt our sips 
in the morning, and to suspend our coffee in mid-air be- 
tween our lips and right ear, but the ordinary trash of 
newspapers.'* And well might they lament! For the 
Spectator had come to be regarded as a no less important 
adjunct to the domestic library than the almanac or family 
Bible. It was brought to Queen Anne every morning 
for breakfast and read by all classes of her subjects either 
with the *' tea " served at that meal or with a *' morning 
pipe of tobacco " afterwards. At times it reached a daily 
circulation of 20,000 copies, and it finally made its way 
as far as the Scotch Highlands. Two years after the 
termination of the Spectator, Addison undertook, without 
the aid of Steele, to revive that periodical. This second 
issue of the Spectator ran only to the number of eighty 
papers and is, in comparison with the first, of minor im- 
portance. After the discontinuance of this second series 



xxii Introduction 

of Spectators, the daily numbers of both series wef 
bound in eight volumes and translated info French, 
German, Italian, Russian, and many other languages 
of Europe. 

The Tatler reflects more particularly the genius of 
Steele, by whom it was planned and largely written ; the 
Spectator, that of Addison, by whom, more largely than 
by Steele, it was both planned and written. Whether 
one prefers the Tatler or the Spectator, therefore, will 
depend upon whether one prefers Steele or Addison. To 
maintain that either of these two authors is inherently 
superior to the other would be a claim invidious to propose 
and difficult to substantiate. Each author has his own 
particular virtues and his own particular limitations, and 
In choosing between the two, much must depend upon the 
taste of the chooser. In general, it may be said that Steele 
owes more to nature, Addison more to art. The former 
excels in the dramatic delineation of the w^orld of every- 
day life, the latter in the idealistic representation of a 
world constructed by the imagination. Again, Steele ad- 
dresses himself mainly to the emotions of the reader, and 
aims by simple and natural means to excite laughter or 
tears; Addison makes his appeal primarily to the intellect, 
and endeavors by an ingenious juxtaposition of incongru- 
ous ideas to provoke a sense of the ridiculous. Finally, 
Steele is at constant pains to point a useful but somewhat 
obvious moral, whereas Addison seeks to accomplish social 
betterment by the indirect means of satire and irony. Thus 
the gifts of Steele serve admirably to supplement the gifts 
of Addison, and no part of the Spectator possesses greater 
charm or vitality than that in which the two authors, 
uniting forces in a joint effort to execute a common de- 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers xxiii 

sign, produced that masterly series of papers known as 
the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 



Ill 



THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS 

As already stated, the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers is 
the title given to those Spectator papers in which Steele 
and Addison carry out their original design of represent- 
ing Mr. Spectator as the member of a club. These papers 
might therefore equally well be named Mr, Spectator and 
his Club and in at least one edition they actually are 
so named. But since the papers in question have more 
to say of Sir Roger than of any other member of Mr. 
Spectator's club, it seems better to give them the simpler 
and more usual title of the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 

The Sir Roger Papers form, it should be remembered, 
but a small proportion of the total number of papers of 
which the Spectator consists. These papers, moreover, 
do not follow one another in an unbroken sequence but 
lie scattered at irregular intervals throughout the Spec- 
tator. Thus, as general introduction to the de Coverley 
Papers, stand the first two numbers of the Spectator. 
In the first number, which is dated March i, 171 1, 
Mr. Spectator makes his bow to the reader and in the 
second, dated March 2, 171 1, he introduces his club asso- 
ciates. A period of more than a month's silence then 
follows in which Mr. Spectator makes but rare and inci- 
dental references to his associates. At length in Spectator 
No. 34, dated April 9, 171 1, a club meeting is described 



XXIV 



Introduction 



at which Mr. Spectator receives suggestions from his 
associates as to the editorial policy which he shall follow 
in the ensuing numbers of his journal. We are thus led 
to expect him to call frequently upon his club associates 
for assistance in the remaining portion of his periodical. 
But in this we are disappointed, for, with rare exceptions, 
we hear nothing further of these gentlemen for a space of 
nearly four months. Two important exceptions occur in 
the papers entitled A Lady's Library (No. 37) and 
Pedantry (No. 105), in which passing allusion is made to 
Sir Roger and to Will Honeycomb respectively. At 
length in Spectator No. 106 we unexpectedly find Mr. 
Spectator a guest at Sir Roger's country estate of Coverley 
Hall. This paper, which bears the date of July 2, 171 1, 
opens a more or less uninterrupted series of eighteen 
papers which describe the various pursuits in which Mr. 
Spectator finds Sir Roger engaged in the country. In 
the last paper of the series (No. 132), which is dated 
July 31, 171 1, Mr. Spectator returns to London. There- 
upon a third interval of over five months' silence ensues, 
in which, with the exception of an argument between 
Sir Roger and Sir Andrew, related in No. 174, we again 
lose sight of Mr. Spectator's club associates. At length 
in Spectator No. 269, dated January 8, 17 12, Sir Roger 
pays Mr. Spectator a return visit in London. This paper 
opens a series of seven Spectators devoted, with the single 
exception of a paper on Pin-Money (No. 295), to Sir 
Roger's experiences in the metropolis. The series ends 
with an account of Sir Roger's visit to Vauxhall in 
Spectator No. 383. Since this Spectator is dated May 
20, 1 7 12, Sir Roger remains more than four months in 
town. Finally, after a fourth interval of silence, during 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers xxv 

which, save in the case of a single paper not included in 
this edition, we again hear but little further of Mr. Spec- 
tator's club associates, we suddenly learn, in Spectator No. 
517, of Sir Roger's death at Coverley Hall, whither, we 
are left to infer, he has returned in the interim. With 
this paper, dated October 23, 17 12, and written more 
than a year and a half after Sir Roger's first introduction 
to the reader, the entire series is brought to an abrupt 
conclusion. 

From the foregoing analysis we see that Sir Roger oc- 
cupies a position of much greater prominence at the end of 
the de Coverley series than he does at the beginning. 
In the first five papers of the series, Steele and Addison 
pay no more attention to Sir Roger than to any other 
member of the club. It is not until Mr. Spectator ap- 
pears as a guest at Coverley Hall that Sir Roger first 
merges into conspicuous prominence. From that point to 
the end of the series he holds the center of the stage. 
Henceforth the other members of Mr. Spectator's club 
are relegated to positions of subordinate importance and 
when, at last, Sir Roger dies, these members disperse and 
the club disbands. 

The instinct that led Steele and Addison to exalt Sir 
Roger above his fellows was a sound one. In the first five 
de Coverley papers no one member of the club enjoys 
a position of superiority over any other member. They 
all stand on the same level. The reason for this is obvi- 
ous. As appears from the description contained in the 
second and third papers, all these members were orig- 
inally intended to figure as typical representatives of the 
several classes of society to which they respectively belong. 
But since individuals are more interesting than abstract 



xxvi Introduction 



types, Steele and Addison soon conceived the idea of 
lifting one of these gentlemen above the artificial limita- 
tions imposed by class and of describing him as a unique 
human personality interesting on his own account and 
not merely on account of the particular station in life 
which he happens to occupy. Of the several classes 
represented in Mr. Spectator's club, the old-fashioned, 
conservative class of landed gentry contained, no doubt, 
the largest number of curious, whimsical personalities. It 
was, apparently, for this reason that Steele and Addison 
selected Sir Roger de Coverley for individual character- 
ization. Accordingly, in the papers that open with Mr. 
Spectator's appearance at Coverley Hall, what interests 
us most is not that Sir Roger goes to church on Sunday, 
rides to hounds, and serves as justice of the peace. These 
are pursuits in which we should expect any country squire 
to engage as a matter of course. What interests us most 
are those little singularities of deportment which hold Sir 
Roger apart from other country squires and put him in a 
class by himself. The good knight's praise of the gallant 
ancestor who narrowly escaped death at the battle of 
Worcester, his habit of standing up in church to count 
his tenants, his awkward behavior in the presence of the 
** perverse widow," his thought of the fine tobacco-stopper 
that might be carved from the coronation chair of Edward 
the Second, his surprise to discover that tragic actors 
sometimes talk to be understood — these and a score of 
other peculiarities distinguish Sir Roger as an individual 
from other members of his class. 

Had Steele and Addison extended this method of indi- 
vidual characterization from Sir Roger to Mr. Spectator's 
other associates, we might then be able to dignify the Sir 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers xxvii 

Roger de Coverley Papers with the appellation of our first 
English novel. One of the most noticeable characteristics 
of the little narrative unfolded in these papers, is that it 
lacks movement and progress. Sir Roger is a stationary- 
character. He neither acts nor is he acted upon. He 
remains at the end of the series precisely the same sort 
of a person that he w^as at the beginning. Nothing hap- 
pens to alter or change the even tenor of his existence. 
Once, to be sure, he had a love affair with the ^' perverse '' 
widow. But we may be permitted to doubt, despite his 
own assertions to the contrary, whether that event had 
ever colored his life or character to any considerable 
extent. It had, at any rate, long ceased to have any such 
effect by the time that wt first meet him. 

Now this evident lack of progress in the Sir Roger 
de Coverley Papers is due to the absence of any second 
figure commensurate in importance to Sir Roger. The 
de Coverley Papers contain but a single life-like por- 
trait. They lack the variety and diversity of character 
that we find, for example, in a novel of Dickens. Sir 
Roger stands upon a solitary eminence. He has no 
equals with whom he can be brought into relations of 
enmity or friendship, of sympathy or antipathy. In de- 
fault of such equals, there is no chance for a contrariety 
of interests, a clash of personalities, for the species of 
dramatic conflict we call plot. Without a plot we can 
have no novel and the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers lack 
a plot. These papers, accordingly, may most fittingly be 
designated as a series of loosely connected scenes illus- 
trative of the life of a singularly fascinating individual 
by the name of Sir Roger de Coverley. They are de- 
scriptive rather than dramatic, and have no further object 



xxviii Introduction 

than to picture Sir Roger in precisely the same way that 
the portraits in the good knight's own picture gallery 
picture his ancestors. 

But while the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers fail to 
meet the requirements of the novel, they may neverthe- 
less be said to contain the germ out of which the novel 
afterwards evolved. No English wTiter, prior to Steele 
and Addison, had ever drawn so life-like a portrait as 
that of Sir Roger. To develop the novel it remained 
only for some future author to devise a group or collection 
of equally well executed characters and to engage them 
in that consecutive chain of closely related events that 
we call plot. This task was performed later in the 
eighteenth century by Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett. 

It may be unnecessary to add that the separate c/e 
Coverley Papers bear no titles in the early editions of the 
Spectator, being supplied by later editors. 



DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY 



STEELE 

Brief sketches of Steele's life occur in G. A. Aitken's 
essay prefixed to his edition of Steele's Plays (the Mermaid 
Series, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1894), ^^^ 11^ 
G. R. Carpenter's Introduction to Selections from Steele 
(the Athenaeum Press, Ginn & Co., Boston, 1897). A 
longer life is Austin Dobson's Richard Steele (Apple- 
ton & Co., New York, 1886). The fullest biography 
is G. A. Aitken's Life of Richard Steele (two volumes, 
the Riverside Press, Houghton MifBin Co., Boston, 

1889). 

Incidental comments upon the character of Steele are 
made by Johnson in his life of Addison in Lives of the 
Poets, first published in 1781, and by Macaulay in his 
essay on Addison, first published in the Edinburgh Review 
in 1843. Both biographers are led, however, by superior 
interest in Addison to underrate Steele. Macaulay, in 
particular, is inclined to regard Addison as a paragon of 
all the virtues and to picture Steele as in all respects his 
direct antithesis. Less harsh but equally unfair to Steele 
is Thackeray, who has given us two brilliant portraits of 
that author — one in the eleventh chapter of the second 
book of Henry Esmond, first published in 1852, and the 
other in his essay on Steele in the Entrlish Humorists of 
the Eighteenth Century, first published in 1853. By lay- 



XXX Descriptive Bibliography 

ing too much stress upon Steele's temperamental weak- 
nesses Thackeray pictures that author as one who de- 
serves pity rather than respect or admiration. At length 
John Forster pays a tardy tribute of justice to Steele in 
an essay contributed to the Quarterly Review in 1855. _ 
Though anxious to vindicate Steele's character from the I 
misconstructions of early writers, Forster makes no at- 
tempt to condone or to extenuate his faults. For this 
reason Forster's essay probably furnishes the fairest esti- 
mate of Steele's character that we possess. 

No complete edition of Steele's numerous works has 
ever been published. His letters are published by John 
Nichols, two volumes, London, 1787, and his plays by 
G. A. Aitken in the volume referred to above. No com- 
plete set of Steele's contributions to the Tatler and Spec- 
tator has ever been published apart from Addison's con- 
tributions. Selections from Steele's contributions to both 
these periodicals are published by Austin Dobson (Claren- 
don Press, Oxford, 1896), and by G. R. Carpenter in 
the volume noted above. 

List of Steele's More Important Works 

1695. The Procession. A Poem on Her Majesties Funeral. By 
a gentleman of the Army. 
An elegy on the death of Queen Mary. Mary died on 
December 28, 1694, and the elegy was published on 
March 19, 1695. 
1701. The Christian Hero: An Argume7it proving that No 
Principles but those of Religion are sufficient to make 
a Great Man. 
A pious tract, said to have been written as the result 
of a duel which Steele fought in Hyde Park with a 
certain Captain Kelly on June 16, 1700. The tract 
is in prose and was published on April 15, 1701. 



i 



Descriptive Bibliography xxxi 

1 701. The Funeral: Or, Grief -a-la-M ode. A Comedy. 

Acted with great success at Drury Lane Theater in 
the autumn of 1701, and published on December 18, 
of the same year. The success of the play caused the 
name of the author to be inscribed, as he himself tells 
us, " in the last Table Book ever worn by the glorious 
and immortal William the Third." 

1703. The Lying Lover: Or, the Ladies' friendship. A Comedy, 
Acted with but little success at Drury Lane Theater on 
December 2, 1703, and published on January 26 of the 
following year. The play contains a dueling scene 
and may therefore, like the Christian Hero, have been 
suggested by the due! with Kelly. 

1705. The Tender Husband: Or, the Accomplished Fools. A 
Comedy. 
Acted with moderate success at Drury Lane Theater on 
April 23, 1705, and published on May 9 of the same 
year. The prologue and certain scenes were written 
by Addison, to whom the play was dedicated. 

1 709-1 71 1. The Tatler. 

The Tatler appeared for the first time on April 12, 
1709, and continued to appear every Tuesday, Thurs- 
day, and Saturday until January 2, 171 1. It ran to 
the number of 271 papers, of which Steele wrote 188, 
Addison 41, and Steele and Addison conjointly 34. 
Among other contributors was Swift. 

1711-1712. The Spectator. 

The Spectator appeared for the first time on March i, 
171 1, and continued to appear every week day until 
December 6, 1712. It ran to the number of 555 papers, 
of which Addison wrote 274 and Steele 236. Among 
other contributors was Budgell. 

171 3. The Guardian. 

The Guardian was originally projected by Steele as a 
purely literary sheet but, as time went on, it came to 
assume a political character. It was first published 
on March 12, 1713, and continued to appear every week 
day until October i of the same year. The periodical 
ran to the number of 175 papers, of which Steele con- 
tributed 82. Among other contributors were Addison 
and Pope. 



xxxii Descriptive Bibliography 

1 7 14. The Crisis: Or, a Discourse representing . . . the just 

causes of the late Happy Revolution . . . nmth some 

Seasonable Remarks on the Danger of a Popish 

Successor. 

A Whig pamphlet written in support of the Protestant 

Succession and published on January 19, 1714. The 

publication of this pamphlet led Steele into a quarrel 

with Swift. Swift replied to the Crisis in a famous 

pamphlet entitled the Public Spirit of the Whigs, and 

Steele made a counter reply in a periodical entitled the 

Englishman on February 15, 1714. As a result of this 

defense of Whig principles, Steele was expelled from 

the House of Commons on March 18, 1714. 

1 714. Mr. Steele's Apology for Himself and his Writings; 

Occasioned by his Expulsion from the House of 

Commons. 
A most interesting autobiographical pamphlet written 
by Steele in defense of his public and private conduct 
on various occasions. It was published on October 22, 
1714. 

1719. The Plebeian. 

A series of four political pamphlets. In the first of 
these pamphlets (March 14, 1719) Steele opposed 
Lord Sunderland's ''Peerage Bill." (See Introduction, 
page xiv.) By so doing he came into conflict with 
Addison, who, in the first number of the Old Whig 
(March 19, 1719), took up the cudgels in support of 
that measure. Steele thereupon replied to Addison in 
two further numbers of the Plebeian (March 23 and 
March 30 respectively). Addison then made a second 
reply to Steele's two rejoinders in a second number of 
the Old Whig (April 2, 1719). Finally in the fourth 
and last number of the Plebeian (April 6, 1719) Steele 
ended the controversy by a final word in his own 
defense. 

1722. The Conscious Lo'vers. A Comedy. 

This last and best of Steele's comedies was acted with 
great success at Drury Lane Theater on November 7, 
1722, and published on December i of the same year. 



Descriptive Bibliography xxxiii 

II 

ADDISON 

Fortune does not always spare us contemporary no- 
tices of the great men of the past. In the case of 
Addison, however, we have two such notices— one by 
Steele in his letter to Congreve, prefixed to the second 
edition of Addison's Drummer (London, 1721), and the 
other by Thomas Tickell, in his preface to his edition of 
Addison's works (four volumes, Tonson, London, 1721). 
Though they contain nothing more than scattered ob- 
servations — chiefly on the character of Addison — these 
notices possess the authority that always belongs to the 
testimony of the personal friends of an author. Johnson 
has given us an interesting but somewhat biased life of 
Addison in his Lives of the Poets (1781). Johnson was 
a Tory. Moreover he based his memoir largely upon 
Spence's Anecdotes, which embodied the prejudices of 
Pope. For both these reasons, Johnson's life, though 
characterized by his usual vigor of style and masterful 
analysis of motive, is not always just to the man it com- 
memorates. On the other hand, a somewhat over- 
laudatory view is presented by Macaulay in his essay on 
Addison in the Edinburgh Review for 1843. Macaulay 
was in thorough sympathy with Addison's principles, both 
personal and political, and finds, in consequence, nothing 
in Addison to find fault with. Equally flattering are the 
personal portraits of Addison drawn by Thackeray — one 
in the eleventh chapter of the second book of Henry 
Esmond (1852) and the otiicr in his essay on Congreve 



mth I 
idue ■ 



xxxiv Descriptive Bibliography 

and Addison in his English Humorists of the Eighteenth 
Century (1853). Free alike from the charge of un 
praise or blame is the life of Addison b}' W. J. Courthope 
in the English Men of Letters Series (The Macmillan 
Company, 1884). Courthope does not, like his prede- 
cessors, emphasize individual traits in Addison's character 
or individual incidents in his career, but presents us instead 
with a well-balanced estimate of the author and a con- 
secutive and well-proportioned record of his life. Those 
who read French should not fail to consult the thorough 
and masterly analysis of the social and literary conditions 
under which Addison wrote presented by A. Beljame in 
the chapter on Addison in his Le Public et les hommes de 
lettres en Angleterre au dix-huitieme Siecle (Hachette, 
Paris, 1897). 

Addison's complete works are edited by H. G. Bohn, 
with notes by Richard Hurd, in six volumes, in the Bohn 
Library (Bell, London, 1901-1903). 

List of Addison's More Important Works 

1689. Inauguratio regis GuUelmi. 

This Latin poem was written by Addison to celebrate 
the accession of William of Orange to the throne of 
England. It was composed at Queen's College, Oxford, 
in the year 1689, and served, through the mediation 
of a certain Doctor Lancaster, to procure the author's 
transfer to a fellowship at Magdalen College. 

1694. An Account of the Greatest English Poets. 

It is interesting to note that in this poem on the best 
known English poets of his day Addison says nothing 
of Shakespeare, and but little either of Chaucer or of 
Spenser. The poem was published on April 3, 1694. 

1694. A Translation of all VirglVs Fourth Georgic, except the 
Story of Aristaus. 



Descriptive Bibliography xxxv 

The Georgics were poems written by Virgil in praise 
of agriculture. Addison's translation led Dryden, who 
happened at the time to be engaged on the same task, 
to exclaim, ** after his * Bees,' my latter swarm is scarce 
worth the hiving." 

1695. A Poem to his Majesty. Presented to the Lord Keeper. 

This poem was written to congratulate King W^illiam 
on the capture of Namur from the French and was dedi- 
cated to his patron, the Whig statesman Lord Somers, 
Keeper of the Great Seal. 

1703. A Letter from Italy to the Right Honorable Charles Lord 
Halifax, in the year MDCCL 
A poetical epistle addressed by Addison to his patron 
the Whig statesman Charles Montagu, Lord Halifax. 
It was written by Addison while crossing Mt. Cenis 
on his return from Italy to Switzerland in the winter 
of 1701. The phrase, *' classic ground," applied by 
the author to Italy, caught the fancy of contemporary 
readers and was often quoted. 

1705. Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, in the years 1701, 
1702, 1703. 
A prose treatise in which the author discusses the de- 
gree of fidelity with which ancient authors described 
the scenery of Italy. Addison presented a copy of the 
work to Swift, whom he addressed as " the greatest 
genius of our age." The Remarks proved very popular 
and before entering a second edition arose to five times 
its original price. 

1705. The Campaign, A Poem; to his Grace the Duke of 

Marlborough. 
A poem written to celebrate the victory of Marlborough 
over the French at Blenheim on August 2, 1704. It 
was composed by Addison at the request of Lord Hali- 
fax and because of its ofhcial character was nicknamed 
** a gazette in rhyme." The comparison of Marlbor- 
ough marshaling his battalions to an angel directing 
a storm cloud appealed strongly to contemporary taste 
as a happy instance of poetic compliment. 

1706. Rosamond, An Opera; inscribed to Her Grace the Duchess 

of Marlborough. 
An opera in the Italian style, in three acts, with music 



Descriptive Bibliography 

by Thomas Clayton. The opera was acted uithout 
success at the Haymarket Theater on April 2, 1706. 

1 709-1 71 1. The Tatler. 

See page x. 
1711-1712. The Spectator. 

See page x. 

1713. Cato, A Tragedy, 

Acted with great success at Drury Lane Theater on 
April 14, 1713. Cato is the most "correct" tragedy 
in the English language, being written in strict con- 
formity with the three " unities," insisted upon by the 
French and English critics of the day. 

171 3. The Guardian. 

See page xi. 

1714. The Spectator (Continued). 

A continuation of the Spectator undertaken, presumably, 
by Budgell. The first number appeared on June 18, 
1714, and the last on December 20 of the same year. 
The continuation appeared on Mondays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays, and ran to the number of 80 papers, of 
which Addison wrote 24. It was afterwards published 
as the eighth volume of the first collected edition of 
the Spectator. 

1716. The Drummer: Or, the Haunted House. 

A comedy acted with but little success at Drury Lane 
Theater on March 10, 1716, and published without the 
name of the author, on March 21, 1716, and again, 
with the name of the author, on December 29, 1721. 

1719. The Old Whig. 

Two pamphlets written in support of Lord Sunderland's 
" Peerage Bill." The first appeared on March 19, 1719, 
and the second on April 2, 1719. 

1721. Dialogues upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals. 

A prose treatise of considerable length upon the in- 
formation afforded by ancient coins with respect to 
the civilization of the Greeks and Romans. The 
treatise was begun by Addison in Vienna in 1702 and 
continued at odd intervals thereafter but never com- 
pleted. It was published, after the death of the author, 
by Tickell in his edition of Addison's works. 



I 



Descriptive Bibliography xxxvii 

1721. Evidences of the Christian Religion. 

A prose treatise begun by Addison in 1713 but left un- 
finished. It was also published by Tickell. 



Ill 

THE TATLER AND THE SPECTATOR 

The Tatler is published in four volumes by G. A. Aitken 
(Duckworth & Co., London, 1898-1899). The Spectator was 
first published by Buckley and Tonson in an eight-volume edi- 
tion, corrected by Steele and Addison, in the years 1712-1715. It 
has since been edited by Henry Morley in a convenient one- 
volume edition (Routledge, 1868), and by G. Gregory Smith 
in four volumes (Dutton, 1909). 



THE 

SIR ROGER DE COVERLET 

PAPERS 




/ 



Richard Steele 



THE SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 
PAPERS 

I. MR. SPECTATOR ^ 

' [No. I. Thursday, March i, 171 1. Addison.] 

Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem 
Cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat. 

HOR. 

I HAVE observed that a reader seldom peruses a book 
with pleasure till he knows whether the writer of it be a 
black or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, 
married or a bachelor, with other particulars of the like 
nature that conduce very much to the right understanding 5 
of an author. To gratify this curiosity, which is so natural 
to a reader, I design this paper and my next as prefatory 
discourses to my following writings, and shall give some 
account in them of the several persons that are engaged 
in this work. As the chief trouble of compiling, digest- 10 
ing, and correcting will fall to my share, I must do myself 
the justice to open the work with my own history. I was 
born to a small hereditary estate, which, according to the 
tradition of the village where it lies, was bounded by the 
same hedges and ditches in William the Conqueror's time 15 
that it is at present, and has been delivered down from 
father to son whole and entire, without the loss or acquisi- 
tion of a single field or meadow, during the space of six 
hundred years. There runs a story in the family that my 
mother dreamt that she was brought to bed of a judge. 20 



4 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

Whether this might proceed from a lawsuit which was 
then depending in the family, or my father's being a justice 
of the peace, I cannot determine; for I am not so vain 
as to think it presaged any dignity that I should arrive at 
5 in my future life, though that was the interpretation 
which the neighborhood put upon it. The gravity of my 
behavior at my very first appearance in the world and all 
the time that I sucked, seemed to favor my mother's dream ; 
for, as she had often told me, I threw away my rattle be- 

10 fore I was two months old, and would not make use of my 
coral till they had taken away the bells from it. 

As for the rest of my infancy, there being nothing in it 
remarkable, I shall pass it over in silence. I find that 
during my nonage I had the reputation of a very sullen 

15 youth, but was always a favorite of my schoolmaster, who 
used to say that my parts were solid and would wear well. 
I had not been long at the university before I distin- 
guished myself by a most profound silence; for during 
the space of eight years, excepting in the public exercises 

20 of the college, I scarce uttered the quantity of an hun- 
dred words; and indeed do not remember that I ever 
spoke three sentences together in my whole life. Whilst 
I w^as in this learned body I applied myself with so much 
diligence to my studies that there are very few celebrated 

25 books, either in the learned or the modern tongues, which 
I am not acquainted w^ith. 

Upon the death of my father I was resolved to travel 
into foreign countries, and therefore left the university 
with the character of an odd, unaccountable fellow, that 

30 had a great deal of learning, if I would but show it. An 
insatiable thirst after knowledge carried me into all the 
countries of Europe in which there w^as anything new or 
strange to be seen ; nay, to such a degree was my curiosity 
raised, that having read the controversies of some great 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 5 

men concerning the antiquities of Egypt, I made a voyage 
to Grand Cairo on purpose to take the measure of a pyra- 
mid ; and as soon as I had set myself right in that particu- 
lar, returned to my native country with great satisfaction. 

I have passed my latter years in this city, where I am 5 
frequently seen in most public places, though there are 
not above half a dozen of my select friends that know 
me; of whom my next paper shall give a more particular 
account. There is no place of general resort wherein I 
do not often make my appearance; sometimes I am seen 10 
thrusting my head into a round of politicians at Will's, 
and listening with great attention to the narratives that 
are made in those little circular audiences. Sometimes I 
smoke a pipe at Child's, and whilst I seem attentive to 
nothing but the Fostman, overhear the conversation of 15 
every table in the room. I appear on Sunday nights at 
St. James's Coffee-house, and sometimes join the little 
committee of politics in the inner room, as one who 
comes there to hear and improve. My face is likewise 
very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoa Tree, and in 20 
the theaters both of Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I 
have been taken for a merchant upon the Exchange for 
above these ten years, and sometimes pass for a Jew in 
the assembly of stockjobbers at Jonathan's. In short, 
wherever I see a cluster of people, I always mix with 25 
them, though I never open my lips but in my own club. 

Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of man- 
kind than as one of the species; by which means I have 
made myself a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, 
and artisan, without ever meddling with any practical 30 
part in life. I am very well versed in the theory of an 
husband or a father, and can discern the errors in the 
economy, business, and diversion of others better than 
those who are engaged in them, as staiulers-b\ ch'scover 



6 The S. Ro,e. de Cove... Pape. ^ 

blots which are apt to escape those who are in the game. 
I never espoused any party with violence, and am re- 
solved to observ^e an exact neutrality between the Whigs 
and Tories, unless I shall be forced to declare myself by 
5 the hostilities of either side. In short, I have acted in 
all the parts of my life as a looker-on, which is the char- 
acter I intend to preserve in this paper. 

I have given the reader just so much of my history and 
character as to let him see I am not altogether unquali- 

10 fied for the business I have undertaken. As for other 
particulars in my life and adventures, I shall insert them 
in following papers as I shall see occasion. In the mean- 
time, when I consider how much I have seen, read, and 
heard, I begin to blame my own taciturnity; and since I 

15 have neither time nor inclination to communicate the ful- 
ness of my heart in speech, I am resolved to do it in 
writing, and to print myself out, if possible, before I die. 
I have been often told by my friends that it is pity so many 
useful discoveries which I have made, should be in the pos- 

20 session of a silent man. For this reason, therefore, I shall 
publish a sheetful of thoughts every morning for the bene- 
fit of my contemporaries ; and if I can any way contribute 
to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I 
live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with 

25 the secret satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived 
in vain. 

There are three very material points which I have not 
spoken to in this paper and which, for several important 
reasons, I must keep to myself, at least for some time: I 

30 mean, an account of my name, my age, and my lodgings. 
I must confess, I would gratify my reader in anything that 
is reasonable; but as for these three particulars, though 
I am sensible they might tend very much to the embel- 
lishment of my paper, I cannot yet come to a resolution 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 7 

of communicating them to the public. They would in- 
deed draw me out of that obscurity which I have enjoyed 
for many years, and expose me in public places to several 
salutes and civilities which have been always very dis- 
agreeable to me; for the greatest pain I can suffer is the 5 
being talked to and being stared at. It is for this reason, 
likewise, that I keep my complexion and dress as very 
great secrets; though it is not impossible but I may make 
discoveries of both in the progress of the work I have 
undertaken. 10 

After having been thus particular upon myself, I shall 
in to-morrow's paper give an account of those gentlemen 
who are concerned with me in this work; for, as I have 
before intimated, a plan of it is laid and concerted — as 
all other matters of importance are — in a club. How- 15 
ever, as my friends have engaged me to stand in the 
front, those who have a mind to correspond with me may 
direct their letters to the Spectator, at Mr. Buckley's in 
Little Britain. For I must further acquaint the reader 
that though our club meets only on Tuesdays and Thurs- 20 
days, we have appointed a committee to sit every night 
for the inspection of all such papers as may contribute to 
the advancement of the public weal. C. 

II. THE CLUB ' 

[No. 2. Friday, March 2, 171 1. Steele.] 

Ast alii sex 
Et plures uno conclamant ore. 

Juv. 

The first of our society is a gentleman of Worcester- 
shire, of ancient descent, a baronet, his name Sir Ro<zer 25 
de Coverley. His great-grandfather was inventor of that 



8 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

famous countrj -dance which is called after him. All who 
know^ that shire are very well acquainted w^ith the parts 
and merits of Sir Roger. He is a gentleman that is very 
singular in his behavior, but his singularities proceed 
5 from his good sense, and are contradictions to the manners 
of the world only as he thinks the world is in the wrong. 
However, this humor creates him no enemies, for he does 
nothing with sourness or obstinacy; and his being uncon- 
fined to modes and forms makes him but the readier 

10 and more capable to please and oblige all who know 
him. When he is in town he lives in Soho Square. It 
is said he keeps himself a bachelor by reason he was 
crossed in love by a perverse, beautiful widow of the next 
county to him. Before this disappointment Sir Roger 

15 was what you call a fine gentleman ; had often supped 
with my Lord Rochester and Sir George Etherege, fought 
a duel upon his first coming to town, and kicked Bully 
Dawson in a public coffee-house for calling him ^^ young- 
ster." But being ill-used by the above-mentioned widow, 

20 he was very serious for a year and a half; and though, 
his temper being naturally jovial, he at last got over it, he 
grew careless of himself and never dressed afterwards. 
He continues to wear a coat and doublet of the same cut 
that were in fashion at the time of his repulse, which, in 

25 his merry humors, he tells us, has been in and out twelve 
times since he first wore it. He is now in his fifty-sixth 
year, cheerful, gay, and hearty; keeps a good house both 
in town and country; a great lover of mankind; but 
there is such a mirthful cast in his behavior that he is 

30 rather beloved than esteemed. His tenants grow rich, 
his servants look satisfied, all the young w^omen profess 
love to him, and the young men are glad of his company. 
When he comes into a house he calls the servants by 
their names and talks all the way up-stairs to a visit, I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 9 

must not omit that Sir Roger is a justice of the quorum; 
that he fills the chair at a quarter session with great 
abilities; and, three months ago, gained universal ap- 
plause by explaining a passage in the Game Act. 

The gentleman next in esteem and authority among us 5 
is another bachelor, who is a member of the Inner Tem- 
ple; a man of great probity, wit, and understanding; 
but he has chosen his place of residence rather to obey 
the direction of an old humorsome father than in pur- 
suit of his own inclinations. He was placed there to 10 
study the laws of the land and is the most learned of 
any of the house in those of the stage. Aristotle and 
Longinus are much better understood by him than Little- 
ton or Coke. The father sends up, every post, questions 
relating to marriage-articles, leases, and tenures, in the 15 
neighborhood; all which questions he agrees with an at- 
torney to answer and take care of in the lump. He is 
studying the passions themselves when he should be in- 
quiring into the debates among men which arise from 
them. He knows the argument of each of the orations 20 
of Demosthenes and TuUy but not one case in the reports 
of our own courts. No one ever took him for a fool, but 
none, except his intimate friends, know he has a great 
deal of wit. This turn makes him at once both disinter- 
ested and agreeable. As few of his thoughts are drawn 25 
from business they are most of them fit for conversation. 
His taste of books is a little too just for the age he lives 
in; he has read all, but approves of very few. His 
familiarity with the customs, manners, actions, and writ- 
ings of the ancients makes him a very delicate observer 30 
of what occurs to him in the present world. He is an 
excellent critic, and the time of the play is his hour of 
business; exactly at five he passes through New Inn, 
crosses through Russell Court, and takes a turn at WilFs 



lo The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

till the play begins; he has his shoes rubbed and his 
periwig powdered at the barber's as you go into the 
Rose. It is for the good of the audience when he is at 
a play, for the actors have an ambition to please him. 
5 The person of next consideration is Sir Andrew Free- 
port, a merchant of great eminence in the city of London ; 
a person of indefatigable industry-, strong reason, and great 
experience. His notions of trade are noble and generous, 
and — as every rich man has usually some sly way of 

10 jesting which would make no great figure were he not 
a rich man — he calls the sea the British Common. He 
is acquainted with commerce in all its parts, and will 
tell you that it is a stupid and barbarous way to extend 
dominion by arms ; for true power is to be got by arts and 

15 industry. He will often argue that if this part of our 
trade were well cultivated, we should gain from one na- 
tion ; and if another, from another. I have heard him 
prove that diligence makes more lasting acquisitions than 
valor, and that sloth has ruined more nations than the 

20 sword. He abounds in several frugal maxims, amongst 
which the greatest favorite is, "A penny saved is a penny 
got." A general trader of good sense is pleasanter com- 
pany than a general scholar ; and Sir Andrew having a 
natural, unaffected eloquence, the perspicuity of his dis- 

25 course gives the same pleasure that wit would in another 
man. He has made his fortunes himself, and says that 
England may be richer than other kingdoms by as plain 
methods as he himself is richer than other men ; though at 
the same time I can say this of him, that there is not a 

30 point in the compass but blows home a ship in which he is 
an owner. 

Next to Sir Andrew in the club-room sits Captain 
Sentr>', a gentleman of great courage, good understanding, 
but invincible modestv. He is one of those that deserve 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers ii 

very well, but are very awkward at putting their talents 
w^ithin the observation of such as should take notice of 
them. He is some years a captain and behaved him- 
self with great gallantry in several engagements and at 
several sieges; but having a small estate of his own and 5 
being next heir to Sir Roger, he has quitted a way of 
life in which no m.an can rise suitably to his merit who 
is not something of a courtier as well as a soldier. I 
have heard him often lament that in a profession where 
merit is placed in so conspicuous a view, impudence 10 
should get the better of modesty. When he has talked 
to this purpose I never heard him make a sour expression, 
but frankly confess that he left the world because he 
was not fit for it. A strict honesty and an even, regular 
behavior are in themselves obstacles to him that must 15 
press through crowds who endeavor at the same end 
with himself — the favor of a commander. He will, how- 
ever, in his way of talk, excuse generals for not dispos- 
ing according to men's desert or inquiring into it. ^' For," 
says he, '^ that great man who has a mind to help me 20 
has as many to break through to come at me as I have 
to come at him " ; therefore he will conclude that the 
man who would make a figure, especially in a military 
way, must get over all false modesty and assist his patron 
against the importunity of other pretenders by a proper 25 
assurance in his own vindication. He says it is a civil 
cowardice to be backward in asserting what you ought to 
expect, as it is a military fear to be slow in attacking when 
It is your duty. With this candor does the gentleman 
speak of himself and others. The same frankness runs 30 
through all his conversation. The military part of his 
life has furnished him with many adventures, in the rehi- 
tion of which he is very agreeable to the company; for 
he is never overbearing, thouVijh accustomed to command 



12 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 



the 



belov 



too 



men in tne utmost degree beiow nim ; nor ever 
obsequious from an habit of obeying men highly above 
him. 

But that our society may not appear a set of humorists 
5 unacquainted w^ith the gallantries and pleasures of the age, 
we have among us the gallant Will Honeycomb, a gentle- 
man who, according to his years, should be in the decline 
of his life, but having ever been very careful of his person 
and always had a very easy fortune, time has made but 

10 very little impression either by wrinkles on his forehead 
or traces in his brain. His person is well turned, of a 
good height. He is very ready at that sort of discourse 
with which men usually entertain women. He has all his 
life dressed very well and remembers habits as others do 

15 men. He can smile when one speaks to him and laughs 
easily. He knows the history of every mode and can 
inform you from which of the French king's wenches our 
wives and daughters had this manner of curling their hair, 
that way of placing their hoods, and whose vanity to show 

20 her foot made that part of the dress so short in such a 
year. In a word, all his conversation and knowledge has 
been in the female world. As other men of his age will 
take notice to you what such a minister said upon such 
and such an occasion, he will tell you when the Duke 

25 of Monmouth danced at court such a woman was then 
smitten, another was taken with him at the head of his 
troop in the Park. In all these important relations 
he has ever about the same time received a kind glance 
or a blow of a fan from some celebrated beauty, mother 

30 of the present Lord Such-a-one. If you speak of a young 
commoner that said a lively thing in the House, he starts 
up: ''He has good blood in his veins; that young fel- 
low's mother used me more like a dog than any woman 
I ever made advances to."' This way of talking of his 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 13 

very much enlivens the conversation among us of a more 
sedate turn ; and I find there is not one of the company 
but myself, who rarely speak at all, but speaks of him as 
of that sort of man who is usually called a well-bred, 
fine gentleman. To conclude his character, where women 5 
are not concerned, he is an honest, w^orthy man. 

I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am 
next to speak of as one of our company, for he visits us 
but seldom; but when he does, it adds to every man else 
a new enjoyment of himself. He is a clergyman, a very 10 
philosophic man, of general learning, great sanctity of 
life, and the most exact good breeding. He has the mis- 
fortune to be of a very weak constitution, and consequently 
cannot accept of such cares and business as preferments 
in his function would oblige him to ; he is therefore 15 
among divines what a chamber-counselor is among law- 
yers. The probity of his mind and the integrity of his life 
create him followers, as being eloquent or loud advances 
others. He seldom introduces the subject he speaks upon; 
but we are so far gone in years that he observes, when 20 
he is among us, an earnestness to have him fall on some 
divine topic, which he always treats with much authority, 
as one who has no interests in this world, as one who is 
hastening to the object of all his wishes, and conceives 
hope from his decays and infirmities. These are my ordi- 25 
nary companions. R. 



14 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

III. MR. SPECTATOR AT HIS CLUB 

[No. 34. Monday, April 9, 1711. Addison.] 

Parcit 
Cognatis maculis similis fera — 

Juv. 

The club of which I am a member is very luckily com- 
posed of such persons as are engaged in different ways 
of life, and deputed, as it w^ere, out of the most conspicu- 
ous classes of mankind. By this means I am. furnished 
5 with the greatest variety of hints and mat'erials, and know 
everything that passes in the different quarters and divi- 
sions, not only of this great city, but of the whole king- 
dom. ]\Iy readers, too, have the satisfaction to find that 
there is no rank or degree among them who have not 

10 their representative in this club, and that there is always 
somebody present who will take care of their respective 
interests, that nothing may be written or published to 
the prejudice or infringement of their just rights and 
privileges. 

15 I last night sat very late in company with this select 
body of friends, who entertained me with several remarks 
which they and others had made upon these my specula- 
tions, as also with the various success which they had 
met with among their several ranks anJ degrees of readers. 

20 Will Honeycomb told me, in the softest manner he could, 
that there were some ladies — '' but for your comfort," 
says Will, '' they are not those of the most wit " — that 
were offended at the liberties I had taken with the opera 
and the puppet-show^ ; that some of them were likewise 

25 very much surprised that I should think such serious points 



d 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 15 

as the dress and equipage of persons of quality proper 
subjects for raillery. 

He was going on, when Sir Andrew Freeport took him 
up short, and told him that the papers he hinted at had 
done great good in the city, and that all their wives and 5 
daughters were the better for them; and further added 
that the whole city thought themselves very much obliged 
to me for declaring my generous intentions to scourge 
vice and folly as they appear in a multitude, without con- 
descending to be a publisher of particular intrigues. '' In 10 
short,'' says Sir Andrew, '' if you avoid that foolish beaten 
road of falling upon aldermen and citizens, and employ 
your pen upon the vanity and luxury of courts, your paper 
must needs be of general use.'' 

Upon this my friend the Templar told Sir Andrew that 15 
he wondered to hear a man of his sense talk after that 
manner; that the city had always been the province for 
satire; and that the wits of King Charles's time jested 
upon nothing else during his whole reign. He then 
showed, by the examples of Horace, Juvenal, Boileau, 20 
and the best writers of every age, that the follies of the 
stage and court had never been accounted too sacred for 
ridicule, how great soever the persons might be that pat- 
ronized them. '' But after all," says he, '' I think your 
raillery has made too great an excursion in attacking 25 
several persons of the Inns of Court; and I do not be- 
lieve you can show me any precedent for your behavior in 
that particular." 

My good friend Sir Roger de Coverley, who had said 
nothing all this while, began his speech with a ''Pish!" 30 
and told us that he wondered to see so many men of 
sense so very serious upon fooleries. ^^ Let our good 
friend," says he, ''attack every one that deserves It; I 
would only advise you, Mr. Spectator" — applying himself 



k 



1 6 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

to me — " to take care how you meddle with country 
squires. They are the ornaments of the English nation, 
men of good heads and sound bodies, and, let me tell you, 
some of them take it ill of you that you mention fox- 
5 hunters with so little respect." 

Captain Sentry spoke very sparingly on this occasion. 
What he said was only to commend my prudence in not 
touching upon the army, and advised me to continue to 
act discreetly in that point. 

10 By this time I found every subject of my speculations 
was taken away from me by one or other of the club, and 
began to think myself in the condition of the good man 
that had one wife who took a dislike to his gray hairs, and 
another to his black, till by their picking out what each 

15 of them had an aversion to, they left his head altogether 
bald and naked. 

While I was thus musing with myself, my worthy friend 
the clergyman, who, very luckily for me, was at the club 
that night, undertook my cause. He told us that he won- 

2odered any order of persons should think themselves too 
considerable to be advised. That it was not quality, but 
innocence, which exempted men from reproof. That vice 
and folly ought to be attacked wherever they could be 
met with, and especially when they were placed in high 

25 and conspicuous stations of life. He further added that 
my paper would only serve to aggravate the pains of pov- 
erty, if it chiefly exposed those who are already de- 
pressed, and in some measure turned into ridicule by the 
meanness of their conditions and circumstances. He after- 

30 wards proceeded to take notice of the great use this 
paper might be of to the public by reprehending those 
vices which are too trivial for the chastisement of the 
law, and too fantastical for the cognizance of the pulpit. 
He then advised me to prosecute my undertaking with 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 17 

cheerfulness, and assured me that whoever might be dis- 
pleased with me, I should be approved by all those whose 
praises do honor to the persons on whom they are bestowed. 

The whole club pays a particular deference to the dis- 
course of this gentleman, and are drawn into what he 5 
says as much by the candid, ingenuous manner with 
which he delivers himself, as by the strength of argument 
and force of reason which he makes use of. Will Honey- 
comb immediately agreed that what he had said was 
right, and that, for his part, he would not insist upon the 10 
quarter which he had demanded for the ladies. Sir An- 
drew gave up the city with the same frankness. The 
Templar would not stand out, and was followed by Sir 
^Roger and the Captain, who all agreed that I should be 
at liberty to carry the war into what quarter I pleased, 15 
provided I continued to combat with criminals in a body 
and to assault the vice without hurting the person. 

This debate, which was held for the good of mankind, 
put me in mind of that which the Roman triumvirate were 
formerly engaged in for their destruction. Every man at 20 
first stood hard for his friend, till they found that by this 
means they should spoil their proscription; and at length, 
making a sacrifice of all their acquaintance and relations, 
furnished out a very decent execution. 

Having thus taken my resolutions to march on boldly 25 
in the cause of virtue and good sense, and to annoy their 
adversaries in whatever degree or rank of men they may 
be found, I shall be deaf for the future to all the remon- 
strances that shall be made to me on this account. If 
Punch grows extravagant I shall reprimand him very 30 
freely. If the stage becomes a nursery of folly and im- 
pertinence, I shall not be afraid to animadvert upon it. 
In short, if I meet with anything in city, court, or country 
that shocks modesty or good manners, I shall use my 



1 8 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

utmost endeavors to make an example of it. I must, 
however, intreat every particular person who does me the 
honor to be a reader of this paper, never to think himself, 
or any one of his friends or enemies aimed at in what is 
5 said ; for I promise him never to draw a faulty character 
which does not fit at least a thousand people; or to pub- 
lish a single paper that is not written in the spirit of 
benevolence and with a love to mankind. C. 



IV. A LADY'S LIBRARY 

[No. 37. Thursday, April 12, 1711. Addison.] 

Non ilia colo calathisve Minervae 
Femineas assueta manus. . . . 

ViRG. 

Some months ago my friend Sir Roger, being in the 
10 country, enclosed a letter to me, directed to a certain 
lady whom I shall here call by the name of Leonora, and 
as it contained matters of consequence, desired me to 
deliver it to her with my own hand. Accordingly I waited 
upon her ladyship pretty early in the morning, and w^as 
15 desired by her w^oman to walk into her lady's library, till 
such time as she was in readiness to receive me. The 
very sound of " a lady's library " gave me a great curi- 
osity to see it; and as it was some time before the lady 
came to me, I had an opportunity of turning over a great 
20 many "of her books, w^hich were ranged together in a very 
beautiful order. At the end of the folios, which were 
finely bound and gilt, were great jars of china placed one 
above another in a very noble piece of architecture. The 
quartos were separated from the octavos by a pile of 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 19 

smaller vessels, which rose in a delightful pyramid. The 
octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of all shapes, colors, 
and sizes, which were so disposed on a wooden frame that 
they looked like one continued pillar indented with the 
finest strokes of sculpture and stained with the greatest 5 
variety of dyes. 

That part of the library which was designed for the 
reception of plays and pamphlets and other loose papers 
was enclosed in a kind of square, consisting of one of the 
prettiest grotesque works that ever I saw, and made up 10 
of scaramouches, lions, monkeys, mandarins, trees, shells, 
and a thousand other odd figures in china ware. In the 
midst of the room was a little japan table, with a quire of 
gilt paper upon it, and on the paper a silver snuffbox 
made in the shape of a little book. I found there were 15 
several other counterfeit books upon the upper shelves, 
which were carved in wood, and served only to fill up the 
number, like fagots in the muster of a regiment. I was 
wonderfully pleased with such a mixed kind of furniture 
as seemed very suitable both to the lady and the scholar, 20 
and did not know, at first, whether I should fancy myself 
in a grotto or in a library. 

Upon my looking into the books, I found there were 
some few which the lady had bought for her own use; 
but that most of them had been got together either be- 25 
cause she had heard them praised or because she had 
seen the authors of them. Among several that I exam- 
ined I very well remember these that follow: 

Ogilby's Virgil, 

Dryden's Juvenal. 30 

Cassandra, 

Cleopatra, 

Astraea. 

Sir Isaac Newton's Works. 



20 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

The Grand Cyrus y with a pin stuck in one of the middle 
leaves. 

Pembroke's Arcadia, 

Locke of Human Understanding, with a paper of 
5 patches in it. 

A spelling book. 

A dictionary for the explanation of hard words. 

Sherlock upon Death. 

The Fifteen Co?nforts of Matrimony. 
10 Sir William Temple's Essays. 

Father Malebranche's Search after Truth, translated 
into English. 

A book of novels. 

The Academy of Compliments. 
15 Culpepper's Midwifery. 

The Ladies' Calling. 

Tales in Verse, by Mr. D'Urfey; bound in red leather, 
gilt on the back, and doubled down in several places. 

All the classic authors in wood. 
20 A set of Elzevirs by the same hand. 

Clelia, which opened of itself in the place that describes 
two lovers in a bow^r. 

Baker's Chronicle. 

Advice to a Daughter. 
25 The New Atalantis, with a key to it. 

Mr. Steele's Christian Hero. 

A prayer-book ; with a bottle of Hungary water by the 
iside of it. 

Dr. Sacheverell's Speech. 
30 Fielding's Trial. 

Seneca's Morals. 

Taylor's Holy Living ancl Dying. 

La Ferte's Instructions for Country Dances. 

I was taking a catalogue in my pocket-book of these 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 2i 

and several other authors, when Leonora entered, and 
upon my presenting her with the letter from the knight, 
told me, with an unspeakable grace, that she hoped Sir 
Roger was in good health. I answered, " Yes," for I 
hate long speeches, and after a bow or two retired. 5 

Leonora was formerly a celebrated beauty, and is still 
a very lovely woman. She has been a widow for two or 
three years, and being unfortunate in her first marriage, 
has taken a resolution never to venture upon a second. 
She has no children to take care of, and leaves the man- 10 
agement of her estate to my good friend Sir Roger. But 
as the mind naturally sinks into a kind of lethargy and 
falls asleep that is not agitated by some favorite pleas- 
ures and pursuits, Leonora has turned all the passions of 
her sex into a love of books and retirement. She con- 15 
verses chiefly with men — as she has often said herself 
— but it is only in their writings ; and admits of very few 
male visitants except my friend Sir Roger, whom she 
hears with great pleasure and without scandal. 

As her reading has lain very much among romances, 20 
it has given her a very particular turn of thinking, and 
discovers itself even in her house, her gardens, and her 
furniture. Sir Roger has entertained me an hour together 
with a description of her country seat, which is situated 
in a kind of wilderness, about an hundred miles distant 25 
from London, and looks like a little enchanted palace. 
The rocks about her are shaped into artificial grottoes 
covered with woodbines and jessamines. The woods are 
cut into shady walks, twisted into bovvers, and filled with 
cages of turtles. The springs are made to run among 30 
pebbles and by that means taught to murmur very agree- 
ably. They are likewise collected into a beautiful lake, 
that is inhabited by a couple of swans and empties itself 
by a little rivulet, which runs through a green meadow 



22 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

and is known in the family by the name of the Purling 
Stream. 

The knight likewise tells me that this lady preserves 
her game better than any of the gentlemen in the country. 
5 '' Not," says Sir Roger, '' that she sets so great a value 
upon her partridges and pheasants as upon her larks and 
nightingales; for she says that every bird which is killed 
in her ground will spoil a consort, and that she shall 
certainly miss him the next year." 

10 When I think how oddly this lady is improved by 
learning, I look upon her with a mixture of admiration 
and pity. Amidst these innocent entertainments which 
she has formed to herself, how much more valuable does 
she appear than those of her sex who employ themselves 

15 in diversions that are less reasonable, though more in 
fashion ! What improvements would a w^oman have made 
who is so susceptible of impressions from what she reads, 
had she been guided to such books as have a tendency to 
enlighten the understanding and rectify the passions, as 

20 well as to those w^hich are of little more use than to divert 
the imagination ! 

But the manner of a lady's employing herself usefully 
in reading ^hall be the subject of another paper, in which 
I design to recommend such particular books as may be 

25 proper for the improvement of the sex. And as this is a 
subject of a very nice nature, I shall desire my corre- 
spondents to give me their thoughts upon it. C. 



i 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 23 

V. PEDANTRY 

[No. 105. Saturday, June 30, 171 1. Addison.] 

Id arbitror 
Adprime in vita esse utile, ne quid nimis. 

Ter. 

My friend Will Honeycomb values himself very much 
upon what he calls the knowledge of mankind, which 
has cost him many disasters in his youth ; for Will reckons 
every misfortune that he has met with among men as parts of 
his education ; and fancies he should never have been the man 5 
he is had not he broke windows, knocked down constables, 
and disturbed honest people with his midnight serenades 
when he was a young fellow. The engaging in adven- 
tures of this nature Will calls the studying of mankind ; 
and terms this knowledge of the town the knowledge of 10 
the world. Will ingenuously confesses that for half his 
life his head ached every morning with reading of men 
overnight. This Will looks upon as the learning of a 
gentleman, and regards all other kinds of science as the 
accomplishments of one whom he calls a scholar, a book- 15 
ish man, or a philosopher. 

For these reasons Will shines in mixed company, where 
he has the discretion not to go out of his depth, and has 
often a certain way of making his real ignorance appear a 
seeming one. Our chib, however, has frequently caught 20 
him tripping, at which times they never spare him. For 
as Will often insults us with his knowledge of the town, 
we sometimes take our revenge upon him by our know- 
ledge of books. 



24 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

He was last week produdng two or three letters which 
he writ in his youth to a coquette lady. The raillery of 
them was natural, and well enough for a mere man of the 
town, but, very unluckily, several of the words were 
5 wrong spelt. Will laughed this off at first as well as he 
could: but, finding himsdf pushed on all sides, and espe- 
cially by the Templar, he told us, with a little passion, 
th^ be never liked pedantry in ^)elling, and tha( he spelt 
like a gentleman, and not like a scholar. Upon this Will 

lo had recourse to his old topic of showing the narrow- 
spiritedness, the pride, and ignorance of pedants; which 
he carried so far that, upon my retiring to my lodging I 
could not forbear throwing together such reflections as 
occurred to me upon that subject. 

15 A man who has been- brought up among books, and 
is able to talk of nothing else, is a very indifferent com- 
panion, and what we call a pedant. But methinks we 
should enlarge the title, and give it every one that does 
not know how to think out of his profession and par- 

2oticular way of life. 

AMiat is a greater pedant than a mere man of the 
town! Bar him the play-houses and a catalogue of the 
reigning beauties, and you strike him dumb. How many 
a pretty gentleman's knowledge lies all within the verge 

25 of the court! He will tell you the names of the prin- 
cipal favorites, repeat the shrewd sayings of a man of 
quality, whisper an intrigue that is not yet blown upon by 
common fame; or, if the sphere of his observations is a 
little larger than ordinary, will perhaps enter into all the 

30^ incidents, turns, and revolutions in a game of ombre, 
\\Tien he has gone thus far, he has shown you the whole 
circle of his accomplishments, his parts are drained, and 
be is disabled from any further conversation. WTiat are 
these but rank pedants? And yet these are the men who 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 25 

value themselves most on their exemption from the 
pedantry of colleges. 

I might here mention the military pedant who always 
talks in a camp, and is storming towns, making lodg- 
ments, and fighting battles from one end of the year to 5 
the other. Everything he speaks smells of gunpowder; 
if you take away his artillery from him, he has not a 
word to say for himself. I might likewise mention the 
law pedant, that is perpetually putting cases, repeating 
the transactions of Westminster Hall, wrangling with 10 
you upon the most indifferent circumstances of life, and 
not to be convinced of the distance of a place, or of the 
most trivial point in conversation but by dint of argu- 
ment. The state pedant is wrapt up in news, and lost in 
politics. If you mention either of the kings of Spain or 15 
Poland, he talks very notably; but if you go out of the 
Gazette, you drop him. In short, a mere courtier, a mere 
soldier, a mere scholar, a mere anything, is an insipid 
pedantic character and equally ridiculous. 

Of all the species of pedants which I have mentioned, 20 
the book pedant is much the most supportable. He has at 
least an exercised understanding and a head which is full, 
though confused, so that a man who converses with him 
may often receive from him hints of things that are worth 
knowing and what he may possibly turn to his own ad- 25 
vantage, though they are of little use to the owner. The 
worst kind of pedants among learned men are such as are 
naturally endued with a very small share of common- 
sense, and have read a great number of books without 
taste or distinction. 30 

The truth of it is, learning, like traveling and all 
other methods of improvement, as it finishes good sense, so 
it makes a silly man ten thousand times more insuffer- 
able, by supplying variety of matter to his impertinence 



26 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

and giving him an opportunity of abounding in absurd- 
ities. 

Shallow pedants cry up one another much more than 
men of solid and useful learning. To read the titles they 
5 give an editor or collator of a manuscript, you would 
take him for the glory of the commonwealth of letters 
and the wonder of his age, when perhaps upon examina- 
tion you find that he has only rectified a Greek particle 
or laid out a whole sentence in proper commas. 
10 They are obliged, indeed, to be thus lavish of their 
praises that they may keep one -another in countenance; 
and it is no wonder if a great deal of knowledge, which 
is not capable of making a man wise, has a natural tendency 
to make him vain and arrogant. L. 



VI. COVERLEY HALL 

[No. io6. Monday, July 2, 171 1. Addison.] 

Hinc tibi copia 
Manabit ad plenum benigno 
Ruris honorum opulenta cornu. 

HOR. 

15 Having often received an invitation from my friend 
Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him in 
the country, I last week accompanied him thither, and 
am settled with him for some time at his country house, 
where I intend to form several of my ensuing specula- 

20 tions. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my 
humor, lets me rise and go to bed when I please, dine at 
his own table or in my chamber, as I think fit, sit still 
and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When 
the gentlemen of the country come to see him, he only 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 27 

shows me at a distance. As I have been walking in 
his fields I have observed them stealing a sight of 
me over an hedge, and have heard the knight desiring 
them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be 
stared at. 5 

.1 am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family because it 
consists of sober and staid persons. For, as the knight is 
the best master in the world, he seldom changes his serv- 
ants; and as he is beloved by all about him, his servants 
never care for leaving him. By this means his domestics 10 
are all in years, and grown old with their master. You 
would take his valet de chambre for his brother, his butler 
is gray-headed, his groom is one of the gravest men that 
I have ever seen, and his coachman has the looks of a 
privy counselor. You see the goodness of the master 15 
even in the old house dog, and in a gray pad that is 
kept in the stable with great care and tenderness out of 
regard to his past services, though he has been useless for 
several years. 

I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure 20 
the joy that appeared in the countenances of these an- 
cient domestics upon my friend's arrival at his country 
seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the 
sight of their old master; every one of them pressed for- 
ward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged 25 
if they were not employed. At the same time the good 
old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master 
of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs 
with several kind questions relating to themselves. This 
humanity and good nature engages everybody to him, so 30 
that when he is pleasant upon any of them, all his family 
are in good humor, and none so much as the person 
whom he diverts himself with ; on the contrary, if he 
coughs, or betrays any infirmity of old age, it is easy for 



2 8 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

a stander-by to observe a secret concern in the looks of 
all his servants. 

My worthy friend has put me under the particular care 

of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as 

5 the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desirous of 

pleasing me, because they have often heard their master 

talk of me as of his particular friend. 

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting him- 
self in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man 

10 who is ever with Sir Roger, and has lived at his house in 
the nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentle- 
man is a person of good sense and some learning, of a 
very regular life and obliging conversation; he heartily 
loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the 

15 old knight's esteem, so that he lives in the family rather 
as a relation than a dependent. 

I have observed in several of my papers that my friend 
Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of 
an humorist, and that his virtues as well as imperfections 

20 are, as it were, tinged by a certain extravagance which 
makes them particularly his, and distinguishes them from 
those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally 
very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation 
highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same de- 

25 gree of sense and virtue would appear in their common 
and ordinary colors. As I was walking with him last 
night, he asked me how I liked the good man Vvhom I 
have just now mentioned; and without staying for my 
answer, told me that he was afraid of being insulted with 

30 Latin and Greek at his own table, for which reason he 
desired a particular friend of his at the university to find 
him out a clergyman rather of plain sense than much 
learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice, a sociable tem- 
per, and, if possible, a man that understood a little of 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 29 

backgammon. '' My friend," says Sir Roger, " found 
me out this gentleman, who, besides the endowments 
required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar, though 
- he does not show it. I have given him the parsonage 
of the parish, and, because I know his value, have settled 5 
upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he 
shall find that he was higher in my esteem than perhaps 
he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty years, 
and though he does not know I have taken notice of it, 
has never in all that time asked anything of me for him- 10 
self, though he is every day soliciting me for something 
in behalf of one or other of my tenants, his parishioners. 
There has not been a lawsuit in the parish since he has 
lived among them; if any dispute arises they apply them- 
selves to him for the decision; if they do not acquiesce 15 
in his judgment — which I think never happened above 
once or twice at most — , they appea.1 to me. At his first 
settling with me, I made him a present of all the good 
sermons which have been printed in English, and only 
begged of him that every Sunday he would pronounce 20 
one of them in the pulpit. Accordingly he has digested 
them into such a series that they follow one another natu- 
rally and make a continued system of practical divinity." 
As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentleman 
we were talking of came up to us, and upon the knight's 25 
asking him who preached to-morrow — for it was Saturday 
night — , told us the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning 
and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then showed us his 
list of preachers for the whole year, where I saw, with 
a great deal of pleasure. Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop 30 
Sanderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living 
authors who have published discourses of practical divin- 
ity. I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit 
but I very much approved of my friend's insisting upon 



30 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

the qualifications of a good aspect and a clear voice; for 

I was so charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and 

delivery, as well as with the discourses he pronounced, 

that I think I never passed any time more to my satis- 

5 faction. A sermon repeated after this manner is like the 

composition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor. 

I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy 

would follow this example; and instead of wasting their 

spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would en- 

lo deavor after a handsome elocution, and all those other 

talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned 

by greater masters. This would not only be more easy 

to themselves, but more edifying to the people. L. 



VII. THE COVERLEY SERVANTS 

[No. 107. Tuesday, July 3, 1711. Steele.] 

^sopo ingentem statuam posuere Attici 
Servumque collocarunt aeterna in basi, 
Patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam. 

Phaed. 

The reception, manner of attendance, undisturbed 
15 freedom, and quiet which I meet with here in the coun- 
try, has confirmed me in the opinion I always had, that 
,, the general corruption of manners in servants is owing to 

11 the conduct of masters. The aspect of every one in the 

family carries so much satisfaction that it appears he knows 
20 the happy lot which has befallen him in being a member 
of it. There is one particular which I have seldom seen 
but at Sir Roger's; it is usual in all other places that 
servants fly from the parts of the house through which 
their master is passing; on the contrary, here, they in- 
25 dustriously place themselves in his way ; and it is on both 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 31 

sides, as it were, understood as a visit, when the servants 
appear without calling. This proceeds from the humane 
and equal temper of the man of the house, who also per- 
fectly well knows how to enjoy a great estate with such 
economy as ever to be much beforehand. This makes 5 
his own mind untroubled, and consequently unapt to 
vent peevish expressions, or give passionate or inconsist- 
ent orders to those about him. Thus respect and love 
go together; and a certain cheerfulness in performance 
of their duty is the particular distinction of the lower 10 
part of this family. When a servant is called before his 
master, he does not come with an expectation to hear 
himself rated for some trivial fault, threatened to be 
stripped, or used with any other unbecoming language, 
which mean masters often give to worthy servants; but 15 
it is often to know what road he took that he came so 
readily back according to order, whether he passed by 
such a ground, if the old man who rents it is in good 
health, or whether he gave Sir Roger's love to him, or 
the like. 20 

A man who preserves a respect founded on his benevo- 
lence to his dependents lives rather like a prince than a 
master in his family; his orders are received as favors 
rather than duties; and the distinction of approaching 
him is part of the reward for executing what is com- 25 
manded by him. 

There is another circumstance in which my friend ex- 
cels in his management, which is the manner of reward- 
ing his servants. He has ever been of opinion that 
giving his cast clothes to be worn by valets has a very 30 
ill effect upon little minds, and creates a silly sense of 
equality between the parties, in persons affected only 
with outward things. 1 have heard him often pleasant 
on this occasion, and describe a young gentleman abus- 



32 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

ing his man in that coat which a month or two before 
was the most pleasing distinction he was conscious of in 
himself. He would mm his discourse still more pleas- 
antly upon the ladies' bounties of this kind; and I have 

5 heard him say he knew a fine woman who distributed 
rewards and punishments in giving becoming or unbecom- 
ing dresses to her maids. 

But mj- good friend is above these little instances of 
good-will, in bestowing only trifles on his servants; a 

lo good servant to him is sure of having it in his choice very 
soon of being no servant at all. As I before observed, 
he is so good an husband, and knows so thoroughly that 
the skill of the purse is the cardinal virtue of this life — 
I say, he knows so well that frugality is the support of 

15 generosity — , that he can often spare a large fine when a 
tenement falls, and give that settlement to a good servant 
who has a mind to go into the world, or make a stranger 
pay the fine to that servant, for his more comfortable 
maintenance, if he stays in his service. 

20 A man of honor and generosity considers it would be 
miserable to himself to have no will but that of another, 
though it were of the best person breathing, and for that 
reason goes on as fast as he is able to put his servants 
into independent livelihoods- The greatest part of Sir 

25 Roger's estate is tenanted by persons who have ser\-ed 
himself or his ancestors. It was to me extremely pleas- 
ant to obser\e the visitants from se\eral parts to welcome 
his arrival into the country : and all the difference that I 
could take notice of between the late ser\-ants who came 

50 to see him and those who stayed in the family, was that 
these latter were looked upon as finer gentlemen and better 
courriers. 

This manumission and placing them in a way of liveli- 
hood I look upon as only what is due to a good ser\'ant. 



I 
I 



I 



ii 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 33 

which encouragement will make his successor be as dili- 
gent, as humble, and as ready as he was. There is some- 
thing wonderful in the narrowness of those minds which 
can be pleased, and be barren of bounty to those who 
please them. 5 

One might, on this occasion, recount the sense that 
great persons in all ages have had of the merit of their 
dependents, and the heroic services which men have done 
their masters in the extremity of their fortunes, and shown 
to their undone patrons that fortune was all the difference 10 
between them; but as I design this my speculation only 
as a gentle admonition to thankless masters, I shall not 
go out of the occurrences of common life, but assert it, as 
a general observation, that I never saw, but in Sir Roger's 
family and one or two more, good servants treated as 15 
they ought to be. Sir Roger's kindness extends to their 
children's children, and this very morning he sent his 
coachman's grandson to prentice. I shall conclude this 
paper with an account of a picture in his gallery, where 
there are many which will deserve my future observation. 20 

At the very upper end of this handsome structure I saw 
the portraiture of two young men standing in a river, 
the one naked, the other in livery. The person sup- 
ported seemed half dead, but still so much alive as to 
show in his face exquisite joy and love towards the other. 25 
I thought the fainting figure resembled my friend Sir 
Roger; and, looking at the butler, who stood by me, for 
an account of it, he informed me that the person in the 
livery was a servant of Sir Roger's, who stood on the shore 
while his master was swimming, and observing him taken 30 
with some sudden illness, and sink under water, jumped 
in and saved him. He told me Sir Roger took off the 
dress he was In as soon as he came home, and by a great 
bounty at that time, followed by his favor ever since, had 



34 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

made him master of that pretty seat which we saw at a 
distance as we came to this house. I remembered indeed 
Sir Roger said there lived a very worthy gentleman, to 
whom he was highly obliged, without mentioning anything 
5 further. Upon my looking a little dissatisfied at some 
part of the picture, my attendant informed me that it was 
against Sir Roger's will, and at the earnest request of the 
gentleman himself, that he was drawn in the habit in 
which he had saved his master. R. 



VIII. WILL WIMBLE 

[No. loS. Wednesday, July 4, 171 1. Addison.] 

Gratis anhelans, muha agendo nihil agens. 

Phaed. 

10 As I was yesterday morning walking with Sir Roger 
before his house, a country fellow brought him a huge 
fish, which, he told him, Mr. William Wimble had caught 
that very morning, and that he presented it with his serv- 
ice to him, and intended to come and dine with him. At 

15 the same time he delivered a letter, which my friend 
read to me as soon as the messenger left him. 

'' Sir Roger, 
I desire you to accept of a jack, which is the best I 
have caught this season. I intend to come and stay with 
20 you a week, and see how the perch bite in the Black 
River. I observed w^ith some concern, the last time I 
saw you upon the bowling-green, that your whip wanted 
a lash to it; I will bring half a dozen with me that I 
twisted last week, which I hope will serve you all the time 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 35 

you are in the country. I have not been out of the saddle 
for six days last past, having been at Eton with Sir John's 
eldest son. He takes to his learning hugely. 
I am, sir, your humble servant. 

Will Wimble." 5 

This extraordinary letter and message that accom- 
panied it made me very curious to know the character 
and quality of the gentleman who sent them, which I 
found to be as follows. Will Wimble is younger brother 
to a baronet, and descended of the ancient family of the 10 
Wimbles. He is now between forty and fifty, but, being 
bred to no business and born to no estate, he generally 
lives with his elder brother as superintendent of his game. 
He hunts a pack of dogs better than any man in the 
country, and is very famous for finding out a hare. He 15 
is extremely well versed in all the little handicrafts of an 
idle man; he makes a may-fly to a miracle, and furnishes 
the whole country with angle-rods. As he is a good- 
natured, officious fellow, and very much esteemed upon 
account of his family, he is a welcome guest at every 20 
house, and keeps up a good correspondence among all 
the gentlemen about him. He carries a tulip-root in his 
pocket from one to another, or exchanges a puppy be- 
tween a couple of friends that live perhaps in the opposite 
sides of the county. Will is a particular favorite of all the 25 
young heirs, whom he frequently obliges with a net that 
he has weaved, or a setting-dog that he has made himself. 
He now and then presents a pair of garters of his own 
knitting to their mothers or sisters, and raises a great 
deal of mirth among them by inquiring, as often as he 30 
meets them, how they wear. These gentleman-h*ke manu- 
factures and obliging little humors make Will the darling 
of the country. \ 



36 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

Sir Roger was proceeding in the character of him, 
when he saw him make up to us with two or three hazel 
twigs in his hand that he had cut in Sir Roger's woods, as 
he came through them in his way to the house. I was 
5 very much pleased to observe on one side the hearty and 
sincere welcome with which Sir Roger received him, and 
on the other, the secret joy which his guest discovered at 
sight of the good old knight. After the first salutes were 
over, Will desired Sir Roger to lend him one of his serv- 

10 ants to carry a set of shuttlecocks he had with him in a 
little box to a lady that lived about a mile off, to whom 
it seems he had promised such a present for above this 
half year. Sir Roger's back was no sooner turned but 
honest Will began to tell me of a large cock-pheasant 

15 that he had sprung in one of the neighboring woods, with 
two or three other adventures of the same nature. Odd 
and uncommon characters are the game that I look for 
and most delight in; for which reason I was as much 
pleased with the novelty of the person that talked to me 

20 as he could be for his life with the springing of a pheasant, 
and therefore listened to him with more than ordinary 
attention. 

In the midst of his discourse the bell rung to dinner, 
where the gentleman I have been speaking of had the 

25 pleasure of seeing the huge jack he had caught served 
up for the first dish in a most sumptuous manner. Upon 
our sitting down to it, he gave us a long account how he 
had hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length 
drew it out upon the bank, with several other particulars 

30 that lasted all the first course. A dish of wild fowl that 
came afterwards furnished conversation for the rest of the 
dinner, which concluded with a late invention of Will's 
for improving the quail-pipe. 

Upon withdrawing into my room after dinner I was 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 37" 

secretly touched with compassion towards the honest 
gentleman that had dined with us, and could not but 
consider, with a great deal of concern, how so good an 
heart and such busy hands were wholly employed in trifles ; 
that so much humanity should be so little beneficial to 5 
others, and so much industry so little advantageous to 
himself. The same temper of mind and application to 
affairs might have recommended him to the public esteem, 
and have raised his fortune in another station of life. 
What good to his country or himself might not a trader or 10 
merchant have done with such useful though ordinary 
qualifications ? 

Will Wimble's is the case of many a younger brother 
of a great family, who had rather see their children starve 
like gentlemen than thrive in a trade or profession that is 15 
beneath their quality. This humor fills several parts of 
Europe with pride and beggary. It is the happiness of a 
trading nation like ours that the younger sons, though 
uncapable of any liberal art or profession, may be placed 
in such a way of life as may perhaps enable them to vie 20 
with the best of their family. Accordingly we find several 
citizens that were launched into the world with narrow 
fortunes, rising by an honest industry to greater estates 
than those of their elder brothers. It is not improbable 
but Will was formerly tried at divinity, law, or physic; 25 
and that finding his genius did not lie that way, his par- 
ents gave him up at length to his own inventions. But 
certainly, however improper he might have been for studies 
of a higher nature, he was perfectly well turned for the 
occupations of trade and commerce. As I think this is 30 
a point which cannot be too much inculcated, I shall 
desire my reader to compare what I have here written 
with what I have said in my twenty-first speculation. 

L. 



38 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

IX. THE co\t:rley portraits 

[No. 109. Thursday, July 5, 1711. Steele.] 
Abnormis sapiens. 

HOR. 

I WAS this morning walking in the gallery, when Sir 
Roger entered at the end opposite to me, and advancing 
towards me, said he was glad to meet me among his rela- 
tions, the de Coverleys, and hoped I liked the conversa- 
5 tion of so much good company, who were as silent as my- 
self. I knew he alluded to the pictures; and, as he is a 
gentleman who does not a little value himself upon his 
ancient descent, I expected he would give me some ac- 
count of them. We were now arrived at the upper end 

10 of the gallery, when the knight faced towards one of the 
pictures, and, as we stood before it, he entered into the 
matter, after his blunt way of saying things as they occur 
to his imagination, without regular introduction or care to 
preserve the appearance of chain of thought. 

15 *' It is," said he, "worth while to consider the force of 
dress, and how the persons of one age differ from those 
of another merely by that only. One may observe, also, 
that the general fashion of one age has been followed by 
one particular set of people in another, and by them pre- 

20 served from one generation to another. Thus, the vast 
jetting coat and small bonnet, which was the habit in 
Harry the Seventh's time, is kept on in the yeomen of 
the guard ; not without a good and politic view, because 
they look a foot taller, and a foot and a half broader; 

25 besides that, the cap leaves the face expanded, and con- 
sequently more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance 
of palaces. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 39 

^' This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after 
this manner, and his cheeks would be no larger than 
mine, were he in a hat as I am. He was the last man 
that won a prize in the Tilt-yard, which is now a common 
street before Whitehall. You see the broken lance that 5 
lies there by his right foot. He shivered that lance of his 
adversary all to pieces; and, bearing himself — look you, 
sir — in this manner, at the same time he came within 
the target of the gentleman who rode against him, and 
taking him with incredible force before him on the pom- 10 
mel of his saddle, he in that manner rid the tournament 
over, with an air that showed he did it rather to perform 
the rule of the lists than expose his enemy. However, it 
appeared he knew how to make use of a victory; and, 
with a gentle trot, he marched up to a gallery where their 15 
mistress sat — for they were rivals — and let him down 
with laudable courtesy and pardonable insolence, I 
don't know but it might be exactly where the coffee- 
house is now. 

'' You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a 20 
military genius, but fit also for the arts of peace; for he 
played on the bass viol as well as any gentleman at 
court. You see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt 
sword. The action at the Tilt-yard you may be sure won 
the fair lady, who was a maid of honor, and the greatest 25 
beauty of her time. Here she stands, the next picture. 
You see, sir, my great-great-great-grandmother has on 
the new-fashioned petticoat, except that the modern is 
gathered at the waist: my grandmother appears as if she 
stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as 30 
if they were in a go-cart. For all this lady was bred at 
court, she became an excellent country wife; she brought 
ten children; and when I show you the library, you shall 
see, in her own hand, allowing for the difference of the 



40 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

language, the best receipt now in England both for an 
hasty-pudding and a white-pot. 

" If you please to fall back a little — because 'tis neces- 
sary to look at the three next pictures at one view — these 
5 are three sisters. She on the right hand, who is so very 
beautiful, died a maid ; the next to her, still handsomer, 
had the same fate, against her will; this homely thing in 
the middle had both their portions added to her own, and 
was stolen by a neighboring gentleman, a man of strata- 

10 gem and resolution, for he poisoned three mastiffs to come 
at her, and knocked down two deer-stealers in carrying 
her off. Misfortunes happen in all families. The theft 
of this romp and so much money w^as no great matter to 
our estate. But the next heir that possessed it was this 

15 soft gentleman, whom you see there; observe the small 
buttons, the little boots, the laces, the slashes about his 
clothes, and, above all, the posture he is drawn in — 
which to be sure was his own choosing. You see he sits 
with one hand on a desk, writing and looking as it were 

20 another way, like an easy writer or a sonneteer. He was 
one of those that had too much wit to know how to live in 
the world; he w^as a man of no justice, but great good 
manners; he ruined everybody that had anything to do 
with him, but never said a rude thing in his life; the 

25 most indolent person in the world, he would sign a deed 
that passed away half his estate with his gloves on, but 
would not put on his hat before a lady if it wTre to save 
his country. He is said to be the first that made love 
by squeezing the hand. He left the estate with ten thou- 

30 sand pounds' debt upon it; but, however, by all hands I 
have been informed that he was every way the finest 
gentleman in the world. That debt lay heavy on our 
house for one generation ; but it was retrieved by a gift 
from that honest man you see there, a citizen of our 






The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 41 

name, but nothing at all akin to us. I know Sir Andrew 
Freeport has said behind my back that this man was 
descended from one of the ten children of the maid of 
honor I showed you above; but it was never made out. 
We winked at the thing indeed, because money was 5 
wanting at that time." 

Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned 
my face to the next portraiture. 

Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in 
the following manner: '^ This man" — pointing to him I 10 
looked at — '' I take to be the honor of our house, Sir 
Humphrey de Coverley. He was in his dealings as 
punctual as a tradesman and as generous as a gentleman. 
He would have thought himself as much undone by break- 
ing his word as if it were to be followed by bankruptcy. 15 
He served his country as knight of this shire to his dying 
day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an integrity 
in his words and actions, even in things that regarded the 
offices which were incumbent upon him in the care of his 
own affairs and relations of life, and therefore dreaded, 20 
though he had great talents, to go into employments of 
state, where he must be exposed to the snares of ambi- 
tion. Innocence of life and great ability were the distin- 
guishing parts of his character; the latter, he had often 
observed, had led to the destruction of the former, and 25 
used frequently to lament that great and good had not 
the same signification. He was an excellent husband- 
man, but had resolved not to exceed such a degree of 
wealth; all above it he bestowed in secret bounties many 
years after the sum he aimed at for his own use was at- 30 
tained. Yet he did not slacken his industry, but to a 
decent old age spent the life and fortune which was 
superfluous to himself in the service of his friends and 
neighbors." 



42 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

Here we were called to dinner; and Sir Roger ended 
the discourse of this gentleman by telling me, as we fol- 
lowed the servant, that this his ancestor was a brave man, 
and narrowly escaped being killed' in the Civil Wars; 
5 '^ for," said he, '' he was sent out of the field upon a 
private message the day before the battle of Worcester." 
The whim of narrowly escaping by having been within 
a day of danger, with other matters above mentioned, 
mixed with good sense, left me at a loss whether I was 
10 more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity. 

R. 



X. THE COVERLEY GHOST 

[No. no. Friday, July 6, lyii. Addison.] 

Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent. 

ViRG. 

At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among the 
ruins of an old abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms, 
which are shot up so very high that when one passes 
under them the rooks and crows that rest upon the tops 

15 of them seem to be cawing in another region. I am very 
much delighted with this sort of noise, which I consider 
as a kind of natural prayer to that Being who supplies 
the wants of His whole creation, and who, in the beauti- 
ful language of the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens that 

20 call upon Him. I like this retirement the better because 
of an ill report it lies under of being haunted; for which 
reason, as I have been told in the family, no living crea- 
ture ever walks in it besides the chaplain. My good 
friend the butler desired me, with a very grave face, not 

25 to venture myself in it after sunset, for that one of the 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 43 

footmen had been almost frighted out of his wits by a 
spirit that appeared to him in the shape of a black horse 
without an head; to which he added that about a month 
ago one of the maids coming home late that way, with a 
pail of milk upon her head, heard such a rustling among 5 
the bushes that she let it fall. 

I was taking a walk in this place last night between the 
hours of nine and ten, and could not but fancy it one 
of the most proper scenes in the world for a ghost to 
appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up and 10 
down on every side, and half covered with ivy and elder 
bushes the harbors of several solitary birds which seldom 
make their appearance till the dusk of the evening. The 
place was formerly a church-yard, and has still several 
marks in it of graves and burying-places. There is such 15 
an echo among the old ruins and vaults that if you stamp 
but a little louder than ordinary, you hear the sound re- 
peated. At the same time the walk of elms, with the 
croaking of the ravens which from time to time are heard 
from the tops of them, looks exceeding solemn and ven- 20 
erable. These objects naturally raise seriousness and 
attention; and when night heightens the awfulness of the 
place, and pours out her supernumerary horrors upon 
everything in it, I do not at all wonder that weak minds 
fill it with specters and apparitions. 25 

Mr. Locke, in his chapter of the Association of Ideas, 
has very curious remarks to show how, by the prejudice 
of education, one idea often introduces into the mind a 
whole set that bear no resemblance to one another in the 
nature of things. Among several examples of this kind, 30 
he produces the following instance: ^^ The ideas of gob- 
lins and sprites have really no more to do with darkness 
than light; yet, let but a fooh'sh maid inculcate these 
often on the mind of a child and raise them there to- 



44 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

gether, possibly he shall never be able to separate them 
again so long as he lives, but darkness shall ever after- 
wards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall 
be so joined that he can no more bear the one than the 
5 other." 

As I was walking in this solitude, where the dusk of 
the evening conspired with so many other occasions of 
terror, I observed a cow grazing not far from me, which 
an imagination that is apt to startle might easily have 

10 construed into a black horse without an head ; and I dare 
say the poor footman lost his wits upon some such trivial 
occasion. 

My friend Sir Roger has often told me, with a great 
deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate, he 

15 found three parts of his house altogether useless; that 
the best room in it had the reputation of being haunted, 
and by that means was locked up; that noises had been 
heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a serv- 
ant to enter it after eight o'clock at night; that the door 

20 of one of his chambers was nailed up, because there went 
a story in the family that a butler had formerly hanged 
himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great 
age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which 
either her husband, a son, or daughter had died. The 

25 knight, seeing his habitation reduced to so small a com- 
pass and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, 
upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments 
to be flung open and exorcised by his chaplain, who lay 
in every room one after another, and by that means dis- 

30 sipated the fears which had so long reigned in the family. 
I should not have been thus particular upon these ridicu- 
lous horrors, did not I find them so very much prevail in 
all parts of the country. At the same time, I think a per- 
son who is thus terrified with the imagination of ghosts* 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 45 

and specters much more reasonable than one who, con- 
trary to the reports of all historians, sacred and profane, 
ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all nations, 
thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. 
Could not I give myself up to this general testimony of 5 
mankind, I should to the relations of particular persons 
who are now living, and whom I cannot distrust in other 
matters of fact. I might here add that not only the his- 
torians, to whom we may join the poets, but likewise 
the philosophers of antiquity have favored this opinion. 10 
Lucretius himself, though by the course of his philosophy 
he was obliged to maintain that the soul did not exist 
separate from the body, makes no doubt of the reality of 
apparitions, and that men have often appeared after their 
death. This I think very remarkable; he was so pressed 15 
with the matter of fact which he could not have the con- 
fidence to deny, that he was forced to account for it by 
one of the most absurd unphilosophical notions that was 
ever started. He tells us that the surfaces of all bodies 
are perpetually flying off from their respective bodies one 20 
after another; and that these surfaces or thin cases — that 
included each other whilst they were joined in the body, 
like the coats of an onion — are sometimes seen entire when 
they are separated from it; by which means w^e often 
behold the shapes and shadows of persons who are either 25 
dead or absent. 

I shall dismiss this paper wn'th a story out of Josephus, 
not so much for the sake of the story itself as for the 
moral reflections with which the author concludes It, and 
which I shall here set down in his own words: 30 

" Glaphyra, the daughter of King Archelaus, after the 
death of her two first husbands — being married to a 
third, who was brother to her first husband, and so pas- 
sionately in love with her that he turned off his former 



46 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

wife to make room for this marriage — had a very odd 
kind of dream. She fancied that she saw her first hus- 
band coming towards her, and that she embraced him with 
great tenderness, when in the midst of the pleasure which 
5 she expressed at the sight of him, he reproached her after 
the following manner: 

** * Glaphyra,' saj's he, ' thou hast made good the old 
saying that women are not to be trusted. Was not I the 
husband of thy virginity? Have I not children by thee? 

10 How couldst thou forget our loves so far as to enter 
into a second marriage and after that into a third? 
However, for the sake of our past loves I shall free 
thee from thy present reproach, and make thee mine 
for ever.' 

15 '' Glaphyra told this dream to several women of her 
acquaintance, and died soon after. 

'' I thought this story might not be impertinent in this 
place wherein I speak of those kings. Besides that, the 
example deserves to be taken notice of, as it contains a 

20 most certain proof of the immortality of the soul, and of 
divine providence. If any man thinks these facts incredi- 
ble, let him enjoy his own opinion to himself, but let 
him not endeavor to disturb the belief of others, who by 
instances of this nature are excited to the study of 

25 virtue/' L. , 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 47 
XL SUNDAY WITH SIR ROGER 

[No. 112. Monday, July 9, 171 1. Addison.] 

'Adavdrovs iikv irpQTa deovs^ v6/x(^ ws Sid/cetrat, 
Ti/xa. 

Pyth. 

I AM always very well pleased with a country Sunday, 
and think if keeping holy the seventh day were only a 
human institution, it would be the best method that could 
have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of 
mankind. It is certain the country people would soon 5 
degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians were 
there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which 
the whole village meet together with their best faces and 
in their cleanliest habits, to converse with one another 
upon indifferent subjects, hear their duties explained to 10 
them, and join togethef in adoration of the Supreme 
Being. Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week, 
not only as it refreshes in their minds the notions of 
religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing 
in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such 15 
qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of 
the village. A country fellow distinguishes himself as 
much in the church-yard as a citizen does upon the 
Change, the whole parish politics being generally dis- 
cussed at that place, either after sermon or before the jo 
bell rings. 

My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has 
beautified the inside of his church with several texts of 
his own choosing; he has likewise given a hartdsome 
pulpit cloth, and railed in the communion table at his 25 
own expense. He has often told me that, at his coming 



48 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

to his estate, he found his parishioners very irregular; 
and that in order to make them kneel and join in the 
responses, he eave every one of them a hassock and a 
Common Prayer Book, and at the same time employed 
5 an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country 
for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of 
the Psalms, upon which they now very much value them- 
selves, and indeed outdo most of the country churches 
that I have ever heard. 

10 As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he 
keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody to 
sleep in it besides himself; for, if by chance he has been 
surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out 
of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees 

15 anybody else nodding, either wakes them himself or 
sends his servant to them. Several other of the old 
knight^s particularities break out upon these occasions; 
sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the sing- 
ing Psalms half a minute after 'the rest of the congrega- 

20 tion have done with it ; sometimes, when he is pleased 
with the matter of his devotion, he pronounces ^' Amen " 
three or four times to the same prayer; and sometimes 
stands up when everybody else is upon their knees, to 
count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are 

25 missing. 

I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old 
friend, in the midst of the service, calling out to one 
John Matthews to mind what he was about, and not dis- 
turb the congregation. This John Matthews, it seems, is 

30 remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was 
kicking his heels for his diversion. This authority of the 
knight, though exerted in that odd manner which accom- 
panies him in all circumstances of life, has a very good 
effect upon the parish, w^ho are not polite enough to see 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 49 

anything ridiculous in his behavior; besides that, the gen- 
eral good sense and worthiness of his character makes his 
friends observe these little singularities as foils that rather 
set off than blemish his good qualities. 

As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to 5 
stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The knight 
walks down from his seat in the chancel between a double 
row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each 
side, and every now and then inquires how such an one's 
wife, or mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not 10 
see at church — which is understood as a secret repri- 
mand to the person that is absent. 

The chaplain has often told me that, upon a catechizing 
day, when Sir Roger had been pleased with a boy that 
answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be given him 15 
next day for his encouragement, and sometimes accom- 
panies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger 
has likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk's place; 
and that he may encourage the young fellows to make 
themselves perfect in the church service, has promised, 20 
upon the death of the present incumbent, who is very old, 
to bestow it according to merit. 

The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his 
chaplain and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is 
the more remarkable because the very next village is 25 
famous for the differences and contentions that rise be- 
tween the parson and the squire, who live in a perpetual 
state of war. The parson is alwaj^s preaching at the 
squire, and the squire, to be revenged on the parson, 
never comes to church. The squire has made all his 30 
tenants atheists and tithe stealers; while the parson in- 
structs them every Sunday in the dignity of his order, 
and insinuates to them 'n almost every sermon that he is 
a better man than his patron. In short, matters are come 



50 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

to such an extremity that the squire has not said his 
prayers either in pubhc or private this half year; and 
that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend his 
manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole con- 

5 gregation. 

Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the coun- 
try, are very fatal to the ordinary people, who are so used 
to be dazzled with riches that they pay as much deference 
to the understanding of a man of an estate as of a man 

ID of learning, and are very hardly brought to regard any 
truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached 
to them, when they know there are several men of five 
hundred a year who do not believe it. L. 



XII. SIR ROGER IN LOVE 

[No. 113. Tuesday, July 10, 1711. Steele.] 

Haerent infix! pectore vultus. 

ViRG. 

In my first description of the company in which I pass 

15 most of my time, it may be remembered that I mentioned 

a great affliction which my friend Sir Roger had met with 

in his youth — which was no less than a disappointment 

in love. It happened this evening that we fell into a very 

pleasing walk at a distance from his house. As soon as 

20 we came to it, " It is," quoth the good old man, looking 

round him with a smile, ''very hard that any part of my 

land should be settled upon one who has used me so ill 

as the perverse widow did ; and yet I am sure I could 

not see a sprig of any bough of this whole walk of trees 

25 but I should reflect upon her and her severity. She has 



II 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 51 

certainly the finest hand of any woman in the world. 
You are to know this was the place wherein I used to 
muse upon her; and by that custom I can never come 
into it but the same tender sentiments revive in my mind, 
as if I could actually walk with that beautiful creature 5 
under these shades. I have been fool enough to carve 
her name on the bark of several of these trees, so un- 
happy is the condition of men in love to attempt the re- 
moving of their passion by the methods which serve only 
to imprint it deeper. She has certainly the finest hand 10 
of any woman in the world." 

Here followed a profound silence; and I was not dis- 
pleased to observe my friend falling so naturally into a 
discourse which I had ever before taken notice he indus- 
triously avoided. After a very long pause he entered 15 
upon an account of this great circumstance in his life, 
with an air which I thought raised my idea of him above 
what I had ever had before; and gave me the picture of 
that cheerful mind of his before it received that stroke 
which has ever since affected his words and actions. But 20 
he went on as follows: 

*^ I came to my estate in my twenty-second year, and 
resolved to follow the steps of the most worthy of my 
ancestors who have inhabited this spot of earth before 
me, in all the methods of hospitality and good neighbor- 25 
hood, for the sake of my fame, and in country sports and 
recreations, for the sake of my health. In my twenty- 
third year I was obliged to serve as sheriff of the county; 
and in my servants, officers, and whole equipage indulged 
the pleasure of a young man, who did not think ill of his 30 
own person. In taking that public occasion of showing my 
figure and behavior to advantage. You may easily imagine 
to yourself what appearance I made, who am pretty tall, 
rid well, and was very well dressed, at the head of a whole 



52 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

county, with music before me, a feather in my hat, and 
my horse well bitted. I can assure you I was not a little 
pleased with the kind looks and glances I had from all 
the balconies and windows, as I rode to the hall w^here 
5 the assizes wxre held. But when I came there, a beauti- 
ful creature in a widow's habit sat in court, to hear the 
event of a cause concerning her dower. This command- 
ing creature — who was born for destruction of all who be- 
hold her — put on such a resignation in her countenance, 

10 and bore the whispers of all around the court with such 
a pretty uneasiness, I warrant you, and then recovered 
herself from one eye to another, till she was perfectly con- 
fused by meeting something so wistful in all she encoun- 
tered that at last, with a murrain to her, she cast her 

15 bewitching eye upon me. I no sooner met it but I bowed 
like a great surprised booby; and knowing her cause to 
be the first w^hich came on, I cried, like a captivated calf 
as I was, * Make way for the defendant's witnesses ! ' This 
sudden partiality made all the county immediately see the 

20 sheriff also was become a slave to the fine widow. Dur- 
ing the time her cause was upon trial, she behaved her- 
self, I warrant you, with such a deep attention to her 
business, took opportunities to have little billets handed 
to her counsel, then would be in such a pretty confusion — 

25 occasioned, you must know, by acting before so much 
company — that not only I but the whole court was preju- 
diced in her favor; and all that the next heir to her hus- 
band had to urge was thought so groundless and frivolous 
that, when it came to her counsel to reply, there was not 

30 half so much said as every one besides in the court 
thought he could have urged to her advantage. You 
must understand, sir, this perverse woman is one of those 
unaccountable creatures that secretly rejoice in the ad- 
miration of men, but indulge themselves in no further 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 53 

consequences. Hence it is that she has ever had a train 
of admirers, and she removes from her slaves in tovs^n to 
those in the country according to the seasons of the year. 
She is a reading lady, and far gone in the pleasures of 
friendship; she is always accompanied by a confidante, 5 
who is witness to her daily protestations against our 
sex, and consequently a bar to her first steps towards 
love, upon the strength of her own maxims and decla- 
rations. 

^^ However, I must needs say this accomplished mis- 10 
tress of mine has distinguished me above the rest, and 
has been known to declare Sir Roger de Coverley was the 
tamest and most human of all the .brutes in the country. 
I was told she said so by one who thought he rallied me ; 
but, upon the strength of this slender encouragement of 15 
being thought least detestable, I made new liveries, new- 
paired my coach-horses, sent them all to town to be bitted 
and taught to throw their legs well and move altogether, 
before I pretended to cross the country and wait upon • 
her. As soon as I thought my retinue suitable to the 20 
character of my fortune and youth, I set out from hence 
to make my addresses. The particular skill of this lady 
has ever been to inflame your wishes and yet command 
respect. To make her mistress of this art, she has a 
greater share of knowledge, wit, and good sense than is 25 
usual even among men of merit. Then she is beautiful 
beyond the race of women. H you won^t let her go on 
with a certain artifice with her eyes, and the skill of 
beauty, she will arm herself with her real charms, and 
strike you with admiration instead of desire. It is cer- 30 
tain that, if you were to behold the whole woman, there 
is that dignity in her aspect, that composure in her mo- 
tion, that complacency in her manner, that if her form 
makes you hope, her merit makes you fear. But then 



54 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

again, she is such a desperate scholar that no country 
gentleman can approach her without being a jest. As I 
was going to tell you, when I came to her house I was 
admitted to her presence with great civility; at the same 
5 time she placed herself to be first seen by me in such an 
attitude, as I think you call the posture of a picture, that 
she discovered new charms, and I at last came towards 
her with such an awe as made me speechless. This she 
no sooner observed but she made her advantage of it, 

10 and began a discourse to me concerning love and honor, 
as they both are followed by pretenders and the real 
votaries to them. When she had discussed these points 
in a discourse which 'I verily believe was as learned as 
the best philosopher in Europe could possibly make, she 

15 asked me whether she was so happy as to fall in with my 
sentiments on these important particulars. Her confi- 
dante sat by her, and upon my being in the last confusion 
and silence, this malicious aid of hers, turning to her, 
says, ^ I am very glad to observe Sir Roger pauses upon 

20 this subject, and seems resolved to deliver all his senti- 
ments upon the matter w^hen he pleases to speak.* They 
both kept their countenances, and after I had sat half an 
hour meditating how to behave before such profound 
casuists, I rose up and took my leave. Chance has since 

25 that time thrown me very often in her way, and she as 
often has directed a discourse to me which I do not 
understand. This barbarity has kept me ever at a dis- 
tance from the most beautiful object my eyes ever beheld. 
It is thus also she deals w^ith all mankind, and you must 

30 make love to her, as you would conquer the sphinx, by 
posing her. But were she like other women, and that 
there were any talking to her, how constant must the 
pleasure of that man be who could converse with a crea- 
ture — But, after all, you may be sure her heart is fixed 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 55 

on some one or other; and yet I have been credibly in- 
formed — but who can believe half that is said? After 
she had done speaking to me, she put her hand to her 
bosom and adjusted her tucker. Then she cast her eyes 
a little dow^n, upon my beholding her too earnestly. They 5 
say she sings excellently; her voice in her ordinary speech 
has something in it inexpressibly sweet. You must know 
I dined with her at a public table the day after I first saw 
her, and she helped me to some tansy in the eye of all 
the gentlemen in the country; she has certainly the finest 10 
hand of any woman in the world. I can assure you, sir, 
were you to behold her, you would be in the same condi- 
tion; for, as her speech is music, her form is angelic. 
But I find I grow irregular while I am talking of her; 
but indeed it would be stupidity to be unconcerned 15- 
at such perfection. Oh, the excellent creature! She 
is as inirnitable to all women as she is inaccessible to all 
men." 

I found my friend begin to rave, and insensibly led 
him towards the house, that we might be joined by some 20 
other company; and am convinced that the widow is the 
secret cause of all that inconsistency which appears in 
some parts of my friend's discourse. Though he has so 
much command of himself as not directly to mention 
her, yet, according to that of Martial, which one knows 25 
not how to render in English, '' Dum tacet banc loquitur." 
I shall end this paper with that whole epigram, which 
represents with much humor my honest friend's condition. 

" Quicquid agit Rufus, nihil nisi est Naevia Rufo; 
Si gaudet, si flet, si tacet, banc loquitur ; 30 

Caenat, propinat, poscit, negat, annuit — una est 
Naevia; si non sit Naevia, mutus erit. 
Scriberet besterna patri cum luce salutem, 
* Naevia lux,' inquit, * Naevia lumen, ave.' " 



56 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

" Let Rufus weep, rejoice, stand, sit, or walk, 
Still he can nothing but of Naevia talk; 
Let him eat, drink, ask questions, or dispute, 
Still he must speak of Naevia or be mute. 
He writ to his father, ending with this line — 
*I am, my lovely Naevia, ever thine! '" 



R. 



XIII. SIR ROGER GOES A-HUNTING 

[No. n6. Friday, July 13, 1711. Budgell.] 

Vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron, 

Taygetique canes. 

ViRG. 

Those who have searched into human nature observe 
that nothing so much shows the nobleness of the soul as 
that its felicity consists in action. Every man has such 

10 an active principle in him that he will find out something 
to employ himself upon, in whatever place or state of life 
he is posted. I have heard of a gentleman who was under 
close confinement in the Bastile seven years ; during which 
time he amused himself in scattering a few small pins 

15 about his chamber, gathering them up again, and placing 
them in different figures on the arm of a great chair. 
He often told his friends afterwards that unless he had 
found out this piece of exercise, he verily believed he 
should have lost his senses. 

20 After what has been said, I need not inform my readers 
that Sir Roger, with whose character I hope they are at 
present pretty well acquainted, has in his youth gone 
through the whole course of those rural diversions which 
the country abounds in, and which seem to be extremely 

25 well suited to that laborious industry a man may observe 
here in a far greater degree than in towns and cities. I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 57 

have before hinted at some of my friend's exploits; he 
has in his youthful days taken forty covey of partridges 
in a season, and tired many a salmon with a line consisting 
but of a single hair. The constant thanks and good wishes 
of the neighborhood always attended him on account of 5 
his remarkable enmity towards foxes, having destroyed 
more of those vermin in one year than it was thought the 
whole country could have produced. Indeed, the knight 
does not scruple to own, among his most intimate friends, 
that in order to establish his reputation this way, he has 10 
secretly sent for great numbers of them out of other 
counties, which he used to turn loose about the country 
by night, that he might better signalize himself in their 
destruction the next day. His hunting horses were the 
finest and best managed in all these parts; his tenants 15 
are still full of the praises of a gray stone-horse that 
unhappily staked himself several years since, and was 
buried with great solemnity in the orchard. 

Sir Roger, being at present too old for fox-hunting, to 
keep himself in action has disposed of his beagles and 20 
got a pack of stop-hounds. What these want in speed 
he endeavors to make amends for by the deepness of their 
mouths and the variety of their notes, which are suited in 
such manner to each other that the whole cry makes up 
a complete concert. He is so nice in this particular that 25 
a gentleman having made him a present of a very fine 
hound the other day, the knight returned it by the servant 
with a great many expressions of civility, but desired him 
to tell his master that the dog he had sent was indeed a 
most excellent bass, but that at present he only wanted 30 
a counter tenor. Could I believe my friend had ever 
read Shakespeare, I should certainly conclude he had 
taken the hint from Theseus, in the Midsummer Night's 
Dream: 



58 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

" My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
So fiew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung 
With ears that sweep away the morning dew; 
Crook-knee'd and dew-lapped like Thessalian bulls; 
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouths, like bells, 
Each under each. A cry more tuneable 
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn." 



Sir Roger is so keen at this sport that he has been out 
almost every day since I came down; and upon the chap- 

10 Iain's offering to lend me his easy pad, I was prevailed 
on yesterday morning to make one of the company. I 
was extremely pleased, as we rid along, to observe the 
general benevolence of all the neighborhood towards my 
friend. The farmer's sons thought themselves happy if 

15 they could open a gate for the good old knight as he 
passed by; which he generally requited with a nod or a 
smile, and a kind inquiry after their fathers and uncles. 

After we had rid about a mile from home, we came 
upon a large heath, and the sportsmen began to beat. 

20 They had done so for some time, when, as I was at a little 
distance from the rest of the company, I saw a hare pop 
out from a small furze-brake almost under my horse's feet. 
I marked the way she took, w^hich I endeavored to make 
the company sensible of by extending my arm; but to 

25 no purpose, till Sir Roger, who knows that none of my 
extraordinary motions are insignificant, rode up to me, 
and asked me if puss w^as gone that w^ay. Upon my 
answering, '' Yes," he immediately called in the dogs and 
put them upon the scent. As they were going off, I heard 

30 one of the country fellows muttering to his companion 
that 'twas a wonder they had not lost all their sport, for 
want of the silent gentleman's crying " Stole away! " 

This, with my aversion to leaping hedges, made me 
withdraw to a rising ground, from whence I could have 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 59 

the pleasure of the whole chase, without the fatigue of 
keeping in with the hounds. The hare immediately threw 
them above a mile behind her; but I was pleased to find 
that instead of running straight forwards, or, in hunter's 
language, '' flying the country," as I was afraid she might 5 
have done, she wheeled about, and described a sort of 
circle round the hill where I had taken my station, in 
such manner as gave me a very distinct view of the sport. 
I could see her first pass by, and the dogs some time 
afterwards unraveling the whole track she had made, and 10 
following her through all her doubles. I was at the same 
time delighted in observing that deference which the rest 
of the pack paid to each particular hound, according to 
the character he had acquired amongst them; if they 
were at fault, and an old hound of reputation opened but 15 
once, he was immediately followed by the whole cry; 
while a raw dog, or one who was a noted liar, might have 
yelped his heart out without being taken notice of. 

The hare now, after having squatted two or three times, 
and been put up again as often, came still nearer to the 20 
place where she was at first started. The dogs pursued 
her, and these were followed by the jolly knight, who 
rode upon a white gelding, encompassed by his tenants 
and servants, and cheering his hounds with all the gaiety 
of five-and-twenty. One of the sportsmen rode up to me, 25 
and told me that he was sure the chase was almost at an 
end, because the old dogs, which had hitherto lain behind, 
now headed the pack. The fellow was in the right. Our 
hare took a large field just under us, followed by the full 
cry " in view." I must confess the brightness of the 30 
weather, the cheerfulness of everything around me, the 
chiding of the hounds, which was returned upon us in a 
double echo from two neighboring hills, with the hollow- 
ing of the sportsmen, and the sounding of the horn, lifted 



6o The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

my spirits into a most lively pleasure, which I freely in- 
dulged because I was sure it was innocent. If I was 
under any concern, it was on the account of the poor 
hare, that was now quite spent, and almost within the 
5 reach of her enemies; when the huntsman, getting for- 
ward, threw down his pole before the dogs. They were 
now within eight yards of that game which they had been 
pursuing for almost as many hours; yet on the signal 
before mentioned, they all made a sudden stand, and 

10 though they continued opening as much as before, durst not 
once attempt to pass beyond the pole. At the same time 
Sir Roger rode forward, and alighting, took up the hare 
in his arms, which he soon after delivered up to one of 
his servants with an order, if she could be kept alive, to 

15 let her go in his great orchard, where it seems he has 
several of these prisoners of war, who live together in a 
very comfortable captivity. I was highly pleased to see 
the discipline of the pack, and the good-nature of the 
knight, who could not find in his heart to murder a 

20 creature that had given him so much diversion. 

As we were returning home I remembered that Mon- 
sieur Pascal, in his most excellent discourse on the 
Misery of Man, tells us that all our endeavors after 
greatness proceed from nothing but a desire of being sur- 

25 rounded by a multitude of persons and affairs that may 
hinder us from looking into ourselves, which is a view we 
cannot bear. He afterwards goes on to show that our 
love of sports comes from the same reason, and is par- 
ticularly severe upon hunting. '' What," says he, " unless 

30 it be to drown thought, can make men throw away so 
much time and pains upon a silly animal, which they 
might buy cheaper in the market?" The foregoing 
reflection is certainly just when a man suffers his whole 
mind to be drawn into his sports, and altogether loses 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 6i 

himself in the woods; but does not affect those who pro- 
pose a far more laudable end from this exercise — I 
mean, the preservation of health, and keeping all the 
organs of the soul in a condition to execute her orders. 
Had that incomparable person, whom I last quoted, been 5 
a little more indulgent to himself in this point, the world 
might probably have enjoyed him much longer; whereas 
through too great an application to his studies in his 
youth, he contracted that ill habit of body which, after 
a tedious sickness, carried him off in the fortieth year of 10 
his age; and the whole history we have of his life till 
that time, is but one continued account of the behavior 
of a noble soul struggling under innumerable pains and 
distempers. 

For my own part, I intend to hunt twice a w^eek during 15 
my stay with Sir Roger; and shall prescribe the moderate 
use of this exercise to all my country friends, as the best 
kind of physic for mending a bad constitution and pre- 
serving a good one. 

I cannot do this better than in the following lines out 20 
of Mr. Dryden: 

"The first physicians by debauch were made; 
Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade. 
By chase our long-lived fathers earned their food; 
Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood; 2$ 

But we their sons, a pamper'd race of men, 
Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten. 
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought 
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 
The wise for cure on exercise depend; 30 

God never made his work for man to mend." 

X. 



62 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 
XIV. THE COVERLEY WITCH 

[No. 117. Saturday, July 14, 171 1. Addisok.] 
Ipsi sibi somnia fingunt. 

ViRG. 

There are some opinions in which a man should stand 
neuter, without engaging his assent to one side or the 
other. Such a hovering faith as this, which refuses to 
settle upon any determination, is absolutely necessary in 
5 a mind that is careful to avoid errors and prepossessions. 
When the arguments press equally on both sides, in mat- 
ters that are indifferent to us. the safest method is to give 
up ourselves to neither. 

It is with this temper of mind that I consider the sub- 

loject of witchcraft. When I hear the relations that are 
made from all parts of the world — not only from Nor- " 
way and Lapland, from the East and West Indies, but 
from every particular nation in Europe — I cannot for- 
bear thinking that there is such an intercourse and com- 

15 merce with evil spirits as that which we express by the 
name of witchcraft. But when I consider that the igno- 
rant and credulous parts of the world abound most in 
these relations, and that the persons among us who are 
supposed to engage in such an infernal commerce are 

20 people of a weak understanding and a crazed imagina- 
tion, and at the same time reflect upon the many im- 
postures and delusions of this nature that have been 
detected in all ages, I endeavor to suspend my belief till 
I hear more certain accounts than any which have yet 

25 come to my knowledge. In short, when I consider the 
question whether there are such persons in the world as 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 63 

those we call witches, my mind is divided between the 
two opposite opinions; or rather, to speak my thoughts 
freely, I believe in general that there is, and has been, 
such a thing as witchcraft, but at the same time can 
give no credit to any particular instance of it. 5 

I am engaged in this speculation by some occurrences 
that I met with yesterday, which I shall give my reader 
an account of at large. As I was walking with my friend 
Sir Roger by the side of one of his woods, an old woman 
applied herself to me for my charity. Her dress and 10 
figure put me in mind of the following description in 
Otway : 

" In a close lane as I pursued my journey, 
I spied a wrinkled hag, with age grown double, 
Picking dry sticks, and mumbling to herself. 15 

Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red; 
Cold palsy shook her head; her hands seem'd wither'd; 
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd 
The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging. 
Which served to keep her carcase from the cold; 20 

So there was nothing of a piece about her. 
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd 
With different color'd rags — black, red, white, yellow — 
And seemed to speak variety of wretchedness." 

As I was musing on this description and comparing It 25 
with the object before me, the knight told me that this 
very old woman had the reputation of a witch all over 
the country, that her lips were observed to be always in 
motion, and that there was not a switch about her house 
which her neighbors did not believe had carried her 30 
several hundreds of miles. If she chanced to stumble, 
they always found sticks or straws that lay in the figure 
of a cross before her. If she made any mistake at 
church, and cried '' Amen '* in a wrong place, they never 



64 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

failed to conclude that she was saying her prayers back- 
wards. There was not a maid in the parish that would 
take a pin of her, though she should offer a bag of money 
with it. She goes by the name of Moll White, and has 
5 made the country ring with several imaginary exploits 
which are palmed upon her. If the dairy maid does not 
make her butter come so soon as she should have it, 
Moll White is at the bottom of the churn. If a horse 
sweats in the stable, Moll White has been upon his back. 

10 If a hare makes an unexpected escape from the hounds, 
the huntsman curses Moll White. '' Nay,'' says Sir 
Roger, '' I have known the master of the pack, upon such 
an occasion, send one of his servants to see if Moll 
White had been out that morning." 

15 This account raised my curiosity so far that I begged 
my friend Sir Roger to go w^ith me into her hovel, which 
stood in a solitary corner under the side of the wood. 
Upon our first entering, Sir Roger winked to me, and 
pointed at something that stood behind the door, which, 

20 upon looking that way, I found to be an old broomstaff. 
At the same time, he whispered me in the ear to take 
notice of a tabby cat that sat in the chimney-corner, 
which, as the old knight told me, lay under as bad a 
report as Moll White herself; for besides that Moll is 

25 said often to accompany her in the same shape, the cat 
is reported to have spoken twice or thrice in her life, 
and to have played several pranks above the capacity of 
an ordinary cat. 

I was secretly concerned to see human nature in so 

30 much wretchedness and disgrace, but at the same time 
could not forbear smiling to hear Sir Roger, who is a 
little puzzled about the old woman, advising her, as a 
justice of peace, to avoid all communication with the 
devil, and never to hurt any of her neighbors' cattle. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 65 

We concluded our visit with a bounty, which was very 
acceptable. 

In our return home, Sir Roger told me that old Moll 
had been often brought before him for making children 
spit pins, and giving maids the nightmare ; and that the 5 
country people would be tossing her into a pond and 
trying experiments with her every day, if it was not for 
him and his chaplain. 

I have since found, upon inquiry, that Sir Roger was 
several times staggered with the reports that had been 10 
brought him concerning this old woman, and would fre- 
quently have bound her over to the county sessions had 
not his chaplain with much ado persuaded him to the 
contrary. 

I have been the more particular in this account because 15 
I hear there is scarce a village in England that has not 
a Moll White in it. When an old woman begins to dote, 
and grow chargeable to a parish, she is generally turned 
into a witch, and fills the whole country with extravagant 
fancies, imaginary distempers, and terrifying dreams. In 20 
the meantime the poor wretch that is the innocent occa- 
sion of so many evils begins to be frighted at herself, and 
sometimes confesses secret commerce and familiaritios 
that her imagination forms in a delirious old age. This 
frequently cuts off charity from the greatest objects of 25 
compassion, and inspires people with a malevolence to- 
wards those poor, decrepit parts of our species in whom 
human nature is defaced by infirmity and dotage. L. 



66 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 
XV. SIR ROGER TALKS OF THE WIDOW 

[No. ii8. Monday, July i6, 171 1. Steele.] 
Haeret lateri lethalis arundo. 

ViRG. 

This agreeable seat is surrounded with so many pleas- 
ing walks, which are struck out of a wood in the midst 
of which the house stands, that one can hardly ever be 
weary of rambling from one labyrinth of delight to an- 
5 other. To one used to live in a city, the charms of the 
country are so exquisite that the mind is lost in a certain 
transport which raises us above ordinary life, and yet is not 
strong enough to be inconsistent with tranquillity. This 
state of mind was I in, ravished with the murmur of 

10 waters, the w^hisper of breezes, the singing of birds, and 
whether I looked up to the heavens, down on the earth, or 
turned on the prospects around me, still struck with new 
sense of pleasure, w^hen I found, by the voice of my friend, 
who walked by me, that wt had insensibly strolled into the 

15 grove sacred to the widow. 

'' This woman," says he, ^' is of all others the most 
unintelligible; she either designs to marry, or she does 
not. What is the most perplexing of all is that she doth 
not either say to her lovers she has any resolution against 

20 that condition of life in general, or that she banishes 
them; but, conscious of her own merit, she permits their 
addresses without fear of any ill consequence or want of 
respect from their rage or despair. She has that in her 
aspect against which it is impossible to offend. A man 

25 whose thoughts are constantly bent upon so agreeable 
an object must be excused if the ordinary occurrences 



^ 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 67 

in conversation are below his attention. I call her in- 
deed perverse; but, alas! why do I call her so? Because 
her superior merit is such that I cannot approach her with- 
out awe, that my heart is checked by too much esteem; 
I am angry that her charms are not more accessible, that 5 
I am more inclined to worship than salute her. How 
often have I wished her unhappy that I might have an 
opportunity of serving her; and how often troubled in 
that very imagination, at giving her the pain of being 
obliged! Well, I have led a miserable life in secret upon 10 
her account; but fancy she would have condescended to 
have some regard for me if it had not been for that 
watchful animal, her confidante. 

" Of all persons under the sun,'* continued he, calling 
me by name, "be sure to set a mark upon confidantes; 15 
they are of all people the most impertinent. What is 
most pleasant to observe in them is that they assume to 
themselves the merit of the persons whom they have in 
their custody. Orestilla is a great fortune, and in won- 
derful danger of surprises; therefore full of suspicions of 20 
the least indifferent thing, particularly careful of new ac- 
quaintance, and of growing too familiar with the old. 
Themista, her favorite woman, is every whit as careful of 
whom she speaks to, and what she says. Let the ward be 
a beauty, her confidante shall treat you with an air of dis- 25 
tance; let her be a fortune, and she assumes the suspicious 
behavior of her friend and patroness. Thus it is that very 
many of our unmarried women of distinction are to all 
intents and purposes married, except the consideration of 
different sexes. They are directly under the conduct of 30 
their whisperer, and think they are in a state of freedom 
while they can prate with one of these attendants of all 
men in general, and still avoid the man they most like. 
You do not see one heiress in a hundred whose fate docs 



68 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

not turn upon this circumstance of choosing a confidante* 
Thus it is that the lady is addressed to, presented, and 
flattered only by proxy, in her woman. In my case, how 
is it possible that — " 
5 Sir Roger was proceeding in his harangue, when we 
heard the voice of one speaking very importunately, and 
repeating these words: ^' What, not one smile?" We fol- 
lowed the sound till we came to a close thicket, on the 
other side of which we saw a young woman sitting as it 
10 were in a personated sullenness just over a transparent 
fountain. Opposite to her stood Mr. William, Sir Roger's 
master of the game. The knight whispered me, '' Hist, 
these are lovers!" The huntsman, looking earnestly at 
the shadow^ of the young maiden in the stream: "O 
15 thou dear picture ! if thou couldst remain there in the 
absence of that fair creature whom you represent in the 
water, how willingly could I stand here satisfied for ever, 
without troubling my dear Betty herself with any men- 
tion of her unfortunate William, whom she is angry with ! 
20 but alas! when she pleases to be gone, thou wilt also 
vanish; — yet let me talk to thee w^hile thou dost stay. 
Tell my dearest Betty thou dost not more depend upon 
her than does her William; her absence will make 
aw^ay with me as well as thee. If she offers to remove 
25 thee, I'll jump into these waves to lay hold on thee; 
her, herself, her own dear person, I must never embrace 
again. Still do you hear me without one smile? — it is 
too much to bear." He had no sooner spoke these 
words, but he made an offer of throwing himself into the 
30 water ; at which his mistress started up, and at the next 
instant he jumped across the fountain and met her in an 
embrace. She, half recovering from her fright, said in 
the most charming voice imaginable, and with a tone of 
complaint, '' I thought how well you would drown your- 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 69 

self. No, no, you won't drown yourself till you have 
taken your leave of Susan Holliday." The huntsman, 
with a tenderness that spoke the most passionate love, 
and with his cheek close to hers, whispered the softest 
vows of fidelity in her ear, and cried, '' Don't, my dear, 5 
believe a word Kate Willow says; she is spiteful and 
makes stories, because she loves to hear me talk to her- 
self for youT sake." 

'' Look you there,'* quoth Sir Roger, '^ do you see 
there, all mischief comes from confidantes! But let us 10 
not interrupt them; the maid is honest, and the man 
dare not be otherwise, for he knows I loved her father; 
I will interpose in this matter, and hasten the wedding. 
Kate Willow is a witty, mischievous wench in the neigh- 
borhood, who was a beauty; and makes me hope I shall 15 
see the perverse widow in her condition. She was so 
flippant with her answers to all the honest fellows that 
came near her and so very vain of her beauty that she 
has valued herself upon her charms till they are ceased. 
She therefore now makes it her business to prevent other 20 
young women from being more discreet than she was 
herself. However, the saucy thing said the other day well 
enough, ^ Sir Roger and I must make a match, for we 
are both despised by those we loved.' The hussy has a 
great deal of power wherever she comes, and has her 25 
share of cunning. 

^' However, when I reflect upon this woman, I do not 
know whether, in the main, I am the worse for having 
loved her; whenever she is recalled to my imagination, 
my youth returns, and I feel a forgotten warmth in my 30 
veins. This affliction in my life has streaked all my con- 
duct with a softness of which I should otherwise have 
been incapable. It is, perhaps, to this dear image in 
my heart owing, that 1 am apt to relent, that 1 easily • 



yo The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

forgive, and that many desirable things are grown into 
my temper which I should not have arrived at by better 
motives than the thougjit of being one day hers. I am 
pretty well satisfied such a passion as I have had is never 
5 well cured ; and between you and me, I am often apt to 
imagine it has had some whimsical efiect upon my brain. 
For I frequently find that in my most serious discourse 
I let fall some comical familiarity of speech or odd phrase 
that makes the company laugh; however, I cannot but 

10 allow she is a most excellent woman. When she is in 
the country, I warrant she does not run into dairies, but 
reads upon the nature of plants; she has a glass hive, 
and comes into the garden out of books to see them work, 
and observe the policies of their coomionwealth. She 

15 understands everything- I'd give ten pounds to hear her 
argue with my friend Sir Andrew Freeport about trade. 
No, no; for all she looks so innocent, as it were, take 
my word for it, she is no fool." T. 

y 

X^T. TOW^ AND COUNTRY M.\NNERS 

[No. 119. Tuesday, July 17, 1771. Adoooh.] 

Urban quam dicmit Romam, Meliboee, patavi 
Scultus ego huic nostrae similem . 

VlRG. 

The first and most obvious - - - -^s which arise in a 
20 man who changes the cit>- for :r\. are upon the 

different manners of the people w meets within 

those two different scenes of life. u. i i^nners I do not 
mean morals, but behavior and good breeding as they 
show themselves in the town and in the country. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 71 

And here, in the first place, I must observe a very 
great revolution that has happened in this article of good 
breeding. Several obliging deferences, condescensions, 
and submissions, with many outward forms and cere- 
monies that accompany them, were first of all brought 5 
up among the politer part of mankind, who lived in 
courts and cities, and distinguished themselves from the 
rustic part of the species — who on all occasions acted 
bluntly and naturally — by such a mutual complaisance 
and intercourse of civilities. These forms of conversa- 10 
tion by degrees multiplied and grew troublesome; the 
modish world found too great a constraint in them, and 
have therefore thrown most of them aside. Conversa- 
tion, like the Romish religion, was so encumbered with 
show and ceremony, that it stood in need of a reforma- 15 
tion to retrench its superfluities, and restore it to its 
natural good sense and beauty. At present, therefore, 
an unconstrained carriage, and a certain openness of be- 
havior are the height of good breeding. The fashionable 
world is grown free and easy; our manners sit more 20 
loose upon us ; nothing is so modish as an agreeable 
negligence. In a word, good breeding shows itself most 
where, to an ordinary eye, it appears the least. 

If after this we look on the people of mode in the 
country, we find in them the manners of the last age. 25 
They have no sooner fetched themselves up to the fashion 
of the polite world but the town has dropped them, and 
are nearer to the first stage of nature than to those refine- 
ments which formerly reigned in the court and still pre- 
vail in the country. One may now know a man that never 30 
conversed in the world by his excess of good breeding. 
A polite country squire shall make you as many bows in 
half an hour as would serve a courtier for a week. There 
is infinitely more to do about place and precedency 



72 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

in a meeting of justices' wives than in an assembly of 
duchesses. 

This rural politeness is very troublesome to a man of 
my temper, who generally take the chair that is next me, 
5 and walk first or last, in the front or in the rear, as 
chance directs. I have known my friend Sir Roger's 
dinner almost cold before the company could adjust the 
ceremonial, and be prevailed upon to sit down; and 
have heartily pitied my old friend when I have seen him 

10 forced to pick and cull his guests, as they sat at the 
several parts of his table, that he might drink their 
healths according to their respective ranks and qualities. 
Honest Will Wimble, who I should have thought had 
been altogether uninfected w^ith ceremony, gives me abun- 

15 dance of trouble in this particular. Though he has been 
fishing all the morning, he w^ill not help himself at 
dinner till I am served. When w^e are going out of the 
hall, he runs behind me ; and last night, as we were walk- 
ing in the fields, stopped short at a stile till I came up to 

20 it, and upon my making signs to him to get over, told 
me, with a serious smile, that, sure, I believed they had 
no manners in the country. 

There has happened another revolution in the point 
of good breeding, which relates to the conversation among 

25 men of mode, and which I cannot but look upon as very 
extraordinary. It was certainly one of the first distinc- 
tions of a well-bred man to express everything that had the 
most remote appearance of being obscene in modest terms 
and distant phrases; whilst the clown, who had no such 

30 delicacy of conception and expression, clothed his ideas 
in most plain, homely terms that were the most obvious 
and natural. This kind of good manners was perhaps car- 
ried to an excess, so as to make conversation too stifif, 
formal, and precise; for which reason — as hypocrisy in 



1 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 73 

one age is generally succeeded by atheism in another — 
conversation is in a great measure relapsed into the first 
extreme; so that at present several of our men of the 
town, and particularly those w^ho have been polished in 
France, make use of the most coarse, uncivilized words in 5 
our language, and utter themselves often in such a manner 
as a clown would blush to hear. 

This infamous piece of good breeding which reigns 
among the coxcombs of the town has not yet made its 
way into the country; and as it is impossible for such an 10 
irrational way of conversation to last long among a peo- 
ple that make any profession of religion, or show of 
modesty, if the country gentlemen get into it they will 
certainly be left in the lurch. Their good breeding will 
come too late to them, and they will be thought a parcel 15 
of lewd clowns, while they fancy themselves talking to- 
gether like men of wit and pleasure. 

As the two points of good breeding which I have 
hitherto insisted upon regard behavior and conversation, 
there is a third which turns upon dress. In this, too, the 20 
country are very much behindhand. The rural beaux 
are not yet got out of the fashion that took place at the 
time of the Revolution, but ride about the country in red 
coats and laced hats, while the women in many parts are 
still trying to outvie one another in the height of their 25 
head-dresses. 

But a friend of mine, who is now upon the western 
circuit, having promised to give me an account of the 
several modes and fashions that prevail in the different 
parts of the nation through which he passes, I shall defer 30 
the enlarging upon this last topic till I have received a 
letter from him, which I expect every post. L. 



74 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

XVII. SIR ROGER AT THE ASSIZES 

[No. 122. Friday, July 20, 171 1. Addison.] 

Comes iucundus in via pro vehiculo est. 

PuBL. Syr. 

A MAX^s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of 
his own heart; his next, to escape the censures of the 
world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to 
be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a 
5 greater satisfaction to an honest mind than to see those 
approbations which it gives itself seconded by the ap- 
plauses of the public. A man is more sure of his conduct 
when the verdict which he passes upon his own behavior 
is thus w^arranted and confirmed by the opinion of all 

10 that know him. 

My worthy friend Sir Roger is one of those who is not 
only at peace within himself, but beloved and esteemed 
by all about him. He receives a suitable tribute for his 
universal benevolence to mankind in the returns of affec- 

15 tion and good-will which are paid him by every one that 
lives within his neighborhood. I lately met with two or 
three odd instances of that general respect which is shown 
to the good old knight. He would needs carry Will 
Wimble and myself with him to the county assizes. As 

20 we were upon the road. Will Wimble joined a couple of 
plain men who rid before us, and conversed with them 
for some time; during which my friend Sir Roger ac- 
quainted me with their characters. 

'' The first of them," says he, *^ that has a spaniel by 

25 his side, is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year, 
an honest man. He is just within the Game Act and 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 75 

qualified to kill an hare or a pheasant. He knocks down 
a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week, and by that 
means lives much cheaper than those who have not so 
good an estate as himself. He would be a good neighbor 
if he did not destroy so many partridges; in short, he is 5 
a very sensible man, shoots flying, and has been several 
times foreman of the petty jury. 

'* The other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, 
a fellow famous for taking the law of everybody. There 
is not one in the town where he lives that he has not sued 10 
at a quarter sessions. The rogue had once the impudence 
to go to law with the widow. His head is full of costs, 
damages, and ejectments. He plagued a couple of honest 
gentlemen so long for a trespass in breaking one of his 
hedges, till he was forced to sell the ground it enclosed 15 
to defray the charges of the prosecution. His father left 
him fourscore pounds a year, but he has cast and been 
cast so often that he is not now worth thirty. I suppose 
he is going upon the old business of the willow tree.*' 

As Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom 20 
Touchy, Will Wimble and his two companions stopped 
short till we came up to them. After having paid their 
respects to Sir Roger, Will told him that Mr. Touchy and 
he must appeal to him upon a dispute that arose between 
them. Will, it seems, had been giving his fellow-traveler 25 
an account of his angling one day in such a hole; when 
Tom Touchy, instead of hearing out his story, told him 
that Mr. Such-an-one, if he pleased, might take the law 
of him for fishing in that part of the river. My friend 
Sir Roger heard them both, upon a round trot; and after 30 
having paused some time, told them, with the air of a 
man who would not give his judgment rashly, that much 
might be said on both sides. They were neither of them 
dissatisfied with the knight's determination, because neither 



76 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

of them found himself in the wrong by it. Upon which 
we made the best of our way to the assizes. 

The court was sat before Sir Roger came; but notwith- 
standing all the justices had taken their places upon the 
5 bench, they made room for the old knight at the head of 
them; who, for his reputation in the country, took occa- 
sion to whisper in the judge's ear that he was glad his 
lordship had met w^ith so much good weather in his cir- 
cuit. I was listening to the proceedings of the court with 

10 much attention, and infinitely pleased with that great ap- 
pearance and solemnity which so properly accompanies 
such a public administration of our laws, when, after about 
an hour's sitting, I observed, to my great surprise, in the 
midst of a trial, that my friend Sir Roger was getting up 

IS to speak. I was in some pain for him, till I found he 
had acquitted himself of two or three sentences with a 
look of much business and great intrepidity. 

Upon his first rising, the court was hushed, and a gen- 
eral whisper ran among the country people that Sir Roger 

20 was up. The speech he made was so little to the purpose 
that I shall not trouble my readers with an account of it ; 
and I believe was not so much designed by the knight 
himself to inform the court, as to give him a figure in my 
eye, and keep up his credit in the country. 

25 I was highly delighted, when the court rose, to see the 
gentlemen of the country gathering about my old friend, 
and striving who should compliment him most; at the 
same time that the ordinary people gazed upon him at a 
distance, not a little admiring his courage, that was not 

30 afraid to speak to the judge. 

In our return home we met with a very odd accident 
which I cannot forbear relating, because it shows how 
desirous all who know Sir Roger are of giving him marks 
of their esteem. When we arrived upon the verge of his 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 77 

estate, we stopped at a little inn to rest ourselves and our 
horses. The man of the house had, it seems, been for- 
merly a servant in the knight's family; and, to do honor 
to his old master, had some time since, unknown to Sir 
Roger, put him up in a sign-post before the door; so that 5 
the knight's head had hung out upon the road about a 
week before he himself knew anything of the matter. As 
soon as Sir Roger was acquainted with it, finding that 
his servant's indiscretion proceeded wholly from afifection 
and good-will, he only told him that he had made him 10 
too high a compliment; and when the fellow seemed to 
think that could hardly be, added with a more decisive 
look, that it was too great an honor for any man under 
a duke; but told him at the same time that it might be 
altered with a very few touches, and that he himself 15 
would be at the charge of it. Accordingly they got a 
painter, by the knight's directions, to add a pair of 
whiskers to the face, and by a little aggravation of the 
features to change it into the Saracen's Head. I should 
not have known this story had not the innkeeper, upon 20 
Sir Roger's alighting, told him in my hearing that his 
honor's head was brought back last night with the altera- 
tions that he had ordered to be made in it. Upon this, my 
friend, with his usual cheerfulness, related the particulars 
above mentioned, and ordered the head to be brought into 25 
the room. I could not forbear discovering greater expres- 
sions of mirth than ordinary upon the appearance of this 
monstrous face, under which, notwithstanding it was made 
to frown and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I 
could still discover a distant resemblance of my old friend. 30 
Sir Roger, upon seeing me laugh, desired me to tell him 
truly if I thought it possible for people to know him in 
that disguise. I at first kept my usual silence; but upon 
the knight's conjuring me to tell him whether it was not 



78 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

still more like himself than a Saracen, I composed my 
countenance in the best manner I could, and replied that 
much might be said on both sides. 

These several adventures, with the knight's behavior 
5 in them, gave me as pleasant a day as ever I met w^ith in 
any of my travels. L. 



XVIII. EUDOXUS AND LEONTINE 

[No. 123. Saturday, July 21, 1711. Addison.] 

Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, 
Rectique cultus pectora roborant; 
Utcunque defecere mores, 
Dedecorant bene nata culpae. 

HOR. 

As I was yesterday taking the air with my friend Sir 
Roger, we were met by a fresh-colored, ruddy young man, 
who rid by us full speed, with a couple of servants behind 

10 him. Upon my inquiry who he was. Sir Roger told me 
that he was a young gentleman of a considerable estate, 
who had been educated by a tender mother, that lives 
not many miles from the place where we were. She is a 
very good lady, says my friend, but took so much care of 

15 her son's health, that she has made him good for nothing. 
She quickly found that reading was bad for his eyes, 
and that writing made his head ache. He was let loose 
among the woods as soon as he was able to ride on horse- 
back, or to carry a gun upon his shoulder. To be brief, 

20 I found by my friend's account of him, that he had got 
a great stock of health, but nothing else; and that, if it 
were a man's business only to live, there would not be 
a more accomplished young fellow in the whole country. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 79 

The truth of it is, since my residing in these parts, I 
have seen and heard innumerable instances of young 
heirs and elder brothers who — either from their own re- 
flecting upon the estates they are born to, and therefore 
thinking all other accomplishments unnecessary, or from 5 
hearing these notions frequently inculcated to them by the 
flattery of their servants and domestics, or from the same 
foolish thought prevailing in those who have the care of 
their education — are of no manner of use but to keep 
up their families and transmit their lands and houses in a 10 
line to posterity. 

This makes me often think on a story I have heard of 
two friends, which I shall give my reader at large under 
feigned names. The moral of it may, I hope, be useful, 
though there are some circumstances which make it rather 15 
appear like a novel than a true story. 

Eudoxus and Leontine began the world with small 
estates. They were both of them men of good sense 
and great virtue. They prosecuted their studies together 
in their earlier years, and entered into such a friendship 20 
as lasted to the end of their lives. Eudoxus, at his first 
setting out in the world, threw himself into a court, where 
by his natural endowments and his acquired abilities he 
made his way from one post to another, till at length he 
had raised a very considerable fortune. Leontine, on the 25 
contrary, sought all opportunities of improving his mind 
by study, conversation, and travel. He was not only 
acquainted with all the sciences, but with the most emi- 
nent professors of them throughout Europe. He knew 
perfectly well the interests of its princes, with the cus- 30 
toms and fashions of their courts, and could scarce meet 
with the name of an extraordinary person in the Gaztite 
whom he had not either talked to or seen. In short, he 
had so well mixed and digested his knowledge of men 



8o The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

and books, that he made one of the most accomplished 
persons of his age. During the whole course of his 
studies and travels, he kept up a punctual correspondence 
with Eudoxus, who often made himself acceptable to the 
5 principal men about court by the intelligence which he 
received from Leontine. When they were both turned of 
forty — an age in which, according to Mr. Cowley, " there 
IS no dallying with life " — they determined, pursuant to 
the resolution they had taken in the beginning of their 

10 lives, to retire, and pass the remainder of their days in 
the country. In order to this, they both of them married 
much about the same time. Leontine, with his own and 
his wife's fortune, bought a farm of three hundred a year, 
which lay within the neighborhood of his friend Eudoxus, 

15 who had purchased an estate of as many thousands. 
They were both of them fathers about the same time, 
Eudoxus having a son born to him, and Leontine a 
daughter; but, to the unspeakable grief of the latter, his 
young wife, in whom all his happiness was wrapt up, died 

20 in a few days after the birth of her daughter. His afflic- 
tion would have been insupportable had not he been 
comforted by the daily visits and conversations of his 
friend. As they were one day talking together with their 
usual intimacy, Leontine considering how incapable he 

25 was of giving his daughter a proper education in his own 
house, and Eudoxus reflecting on the ordinary behavior 
of a son who knows himself to be the heir of a great 
estate, they both agreed upon an exchange of children: 
namely, that the boy should be bred up with Leontine as 

30 his son, and that the girl should live with Eudoxus as his 
daughter, till they were each of them arrived at years of 
discretion. The wife of Eudoxus, knowing that her son 
could not be so advantageously brought up as under the 
care- of Leontine, and considering at the same time that 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 8i 

he would be perpetually under her own eye, was by de- 
grees prevailed upon to fall in with the project. She 
therefore took Leonilla, for that was the name of the girl, 
and educated her as her own daughter. The two friends 
on each side had wrought themselves to such an habitual 5 
tenderness for the children who were under their direc- 
tion, that each of them had the real passion of a father 
where the title was but imaginary. Florio, the name of 
the young heir that lived with Leontine, though he had 
all the duty and affection imaginable for his supposed 10 
parent, was taught to rejoice at the sight of Eudoxus, 
who visited his friend very frequently, and was dictated 
by his natural affection, as well as by the rules of pru- 
dence, to make himself esteemed and beloved by Florio. 
The boy was now old enough to know his supposed 15 
father's circumstances, and that therefore he was to make 
his way in the world by his own industry. This considera- 
tion grew stronger in him every day, and produced so 
good an effect that he applied himself with more than 
ordinary attention to the pursuit of everything which 20 
Leontine recommended to him. His natural abilities, 
which were very good, assisted by the directions of so 
excellent a counselor, enabled him to make a quicker 
progress than ordinary through all the parts of his educa- 
tion. Before he was twenty years of age, having finished 25 
his studies and exercises with great applause, he was re- 
moved from the university to the Inns of Court, where 
there are very few that make themselves considerable 
proficients in the studies of the place who know they 
shall arrive at great estates without them. This was not 30 
Florio's case; he found that three hundred a year was but 
a poor estate for Leontine and himself to h*ve upon, so 
that he studied without intermission till he gained a very 
good insight into the constitution and laws of his country. 



82 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

I should have told my reader that whilst Florio lived 
at the house of his foster-father he was always an accept- 
able guest in the family of Eudoxus, where he became 
acquainted with Leonilla from her infancy. His ac- 
5 quaintance with her by degrees grew into love, which in a 
mind trained up in all the sentiments of honor and virtue 
became a very uneasy passion. He despaired of gaining 
an heiress of so great a fortune, and would rather have 
died than attempted it by any indirect methods. Leonilla, 

10 who was a woman of the greatest beauty joined with the 
greatest modesty, entertained at the same time a secret 
passion for Florio, but conducted herself with so much 
prudence that she never gave him the least intimation 
of it. Florio was now engaged in all those arts and 

IS improvements that are proper to raise a man's private 
fortune and give him a figure in his country, but secretly 
tormented with that passion which burns with the greatest 
fury in a virtuous and noble heart, when he received a 
sudden summons from Leontine to repair to him into 

20 the country the next day. For it seems Eudoxus was so 
filled with the report of his son's reputation that he could 
no longer withhold making himself known to him. The 
morning after his arrival at the house of his supposed 
father, Leontine told him that Eudoxus had something of 

25 great importance to communicate to him ; upon which the 
good man embraced him and wept. Florio was no sooner 
arrived at the great house that stood in his neighborhood 
but Eudoxus took him by the hand, after the first salutes 
were over, and conducted him into his closet. He there 

30 opened to him the whole secret of his parentage and edu- 
cation, concluding after this manner: ''I have no other 
way left of acknowledging my gratitude to Leontine than 
by marrying you to his daughter. He shall not lose the 
pleasure of being your father by the discovery I have 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 83 

made to you. Leonilla, too, shall be still my daughter; 
her filial piety, though misplaced, has been so exemplary 
that it deserves the greatest reward I can confer upon it. 
You shall have the pleasure of seeing a great estate fall 
to you, vv^hich you would have lost the relish of had you 5 
known yourself born to it. Continue only to deserve it 
in the same manner you did before you were possessed of 
it. I have left your mother in the next room. Her heart 
yearns towards you. She is making the same discoveries 
to Leonilla which I have made to yourself." Florio was 10 
so overwhelmed with this profusion of happiness that he 
was not able to make reply, but threw himself down at 
his father's feet, and amidst a flood of tears kissed and 
embraced his knees, asking his blessing, and expressing in 
dumb show those sentiments of love, duty, and gratitude 15 
that were too big for utterance. To conclude, the happy 
pair were married, and half Eudoxus' estate settled upon 
them. Leontine and Eudoxus passed the remainder of 
their lives together; and received in the dutiful and af- 
fectionate behavior of Florio and Leonilla the just recom- 20 
pense, as well as the natural effects, of that care which 
they had bestowed upon them in their education. L. 

/ 

XIX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT 

[No. 125. Tuesday, July 24, 1711. Addison.] 

Ne pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella: 
Neu patriae validas in viscera vertite vires. 

ViRG. 

My worthy friend Sir Roger, wh-en we are talking of 
the malice of parties, very frequently tells us an accident 
that happened to him when he was a schoolboy, which 25 



84 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

was at a time when the feuds ran high between the Round- 
heads and Cavaliers. This worthy knight, being then but 
a stripling, had occasion to inquire which was the way to 
St. Anne's Lane; upon which the person whom he spoke 
5 to, instead of answering his question, called him a 5^oung 
popish cur, and asked him who had made Anne a saint. 
The boy, being in some confusion, inquired of the next he 
met, which was the way to Anne's Lane ; but was called a 
prick-eared cur for his pains, and instead of being shown 

10 the way, was told that she had been a saint before he was 
born, and would be one after he was hanged. '^ Upon 
this," says Sir Roger, " I did not think fit to repeat the 
former question, but going into every lane of the neigh- 
borhood, asked what they called the name of that lane." 

15 By which ingenious artifice, he found out the place he 
inquired after without giving offence to any party. Sir 
Roger generally closes this narrative with reflections on 
the mischief that parties do in the country ; how they spoil 
good neighborhood, and make honest gentlemen hate one 

20 another; besides that, they manifestly tend to the preju- 
dice of the land-tax, and the destruction of the game. 

There cannot a greater judgment befall a country than 
such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a government 
into two distinct people, and makes them greater stran- 

25 gers and more averse to one another than if they were 
actually two different nations. The effects of such a divi- 
sion are pernicious to the last degree, not only with regard 
to those advantages which they give the common enemy, 
but to those private evils which they produce in the heart 

30 of almost every particular person. This influence is very 
fatal both to men's morals and their understandings; it 
sinks the virtue of a nation, and not only so, but destroys 
even common sense. 

A furious party spirit, when it rages in its full violence, 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 85 

exerts itself in civil war and bloodshed; and when it is 
under its greatest restraints naturally breaks out in false- 
hood, detraction, calumny, and a partial administration 
of justice. In a word, it fills a nation with spleen and 
rancor, and extinguishes all the seeds of good-nature, 5 
compassion, and humanity. 

Plutarch says, very finely, that a man should not allow 
himself to hate even his enemies; '^because," says he, ^' if 
you indulge this passion in some occasions, it will rise 
of itself in others ; if you hate your enemies, you will con- 10 
tract such a vicious habit of mind as by degrees will break 
out upon those who are your friends, or those who are 
indifferent to you.'' I might here observe how admirably 
this precept of morality — which derives the malignity of 
hatred from the passion itself, and not from its object — 15 
answers to that great rule which was dictated to the world 
about an hundred years before this philosopher wrote; 
but instead of that, I shall only take notice, with a real 
grief of heart, that the minds of many good men among 
us appear soured with party principles, and alienated from 20 
one another in such a manner as seems to me altogether 
inconsistent with the dictates either of reason or religion. 
Zeal for a public cause is apt to breed passions in the 
hearts of virtuous persons to which the regard of their 
own private interest would never have betrayed them. 25 

If this party spirit has so ill an effect on our morals, it 
has likewise a very great one upon our judgments. We 
often hear a poor, insipid paper or pamphlet cried up, 
and sometimes a noble prince depreciated by those who 
are of a different principle from the author. One who is 30 
actuated by this spirit is almost under an incapacity of 
discerning either real blemishes or beauties. A man 
of merit in a different principle Is like an object seen in 
two different mediums, that appears crooked or broken 



86 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

however straight or entire it may be in itself. For this 
reason, there is scarce a person of any figure in England 
who does not go by two contrary characters, as opposite 
to one another as light and darkness. Knowledge and 
5 learning suffer in a particular manner from this strange 
prejudice, which at present prevails amongst all ranks and 
degrees in the British nation. As men formerly became 
eminent in learned societies by their parts and acquisi- 
tions, they now distinguish themselves by the warmth and 

10 violence with which they espouse their respective parties. 
Books are valued upon the like consideration: an abusive, 
scurrilous style passes for satire, and a dull scheme of 
party notions is called fine writing. 

There is one piece of sophistry practised by both sides; 

15 and that is the taking any scandalous story that has been 
ever whispered or invented of a private man for a known, 
undoubted truth, and raising suitable speculations upon it. 
Calumnies that have been never proved or have been often 
refuted are the ordinary postulatums of these infamous 

20 scribblers, upon which they proceed as upon first princi- 
ples granted by all men, though in their hearts they know 
they are false, or at best very doubtful. When they have 
laid these foundations of scurrility, it is no wonder that 
their superstructure is every w^ay answerable to them. If 

25 this shameless practice of the present age endures much 
longer, praise and reproach will cease to be motives of 
action in good men. 

There are certain periods of time in all governments 
when this inhuman spirit prevails. Italy was long torn in 

30 pieces by the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and France by 
those who were for and against the League ; but it is very 
unhappy for a man to be born in such a stormy and tem- 
pestuous season. It is the restless ambition of artful men 
that thus breaks a people into factions, and draws several 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 87 

well-meaning persons to their interest by a specious con- 
cern for their country. How many honest minds are 
filled with uncharitable and barbarous notions out of their 
zeal for the public good! What cruelties and outrages 
would they not commit against men of an adverse party, 5 
whom they would honor and esteem, if, instead of consid- 
ering them as they are represented, they knew them as 
they are! Thus are persons of the greatest probity 
seduced into shameful errors and prejudices, and made bad 
men even by that noblest of principles, the '^ love of their 10 
country." I cannot here forbear mentioning the famous 
Spanish proverb, ''If there were neither fools nor knaves 
in the world, all people would be of one mind." 

For my own part, I could heartily wish that all honest 
men would enter into an association for the support of one 15 
another against the endeavors of those whom they ought 
to look upon as their common enemies, whatsoever side 
they may belong to. Were there such an honest body of 
neutral forces, we should never see the worst of men in 
great figures of life, because they are useful to a party; 20 
nor the best unregarded, because they are above prac- 
tising those methods which would be grateful to their 
faction. We should then single every criminal out of 
the herd, and hunt him down, however formidable and 
overgrown he might appear ; on the contrary, we should 25 
shelter distressed innocence, and defend virtue, however 
beset with contempt or ridicule, envy, or defamation. In 
short, we should not any longer regard our fellow-subjects 
as Whigs or Tories, but should make the man of merit our 
friend, and the villain our enemy. C. 30 



88 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

XX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SFIRIT— Continued 

[No. 126. Wednesday, July 25, 1711. Addison.] 
Tros Rutulusve fuat, nullo discrimine habebo. 

ViRG. 

In my yesterday's paper I proposed that the honest 
men of all parties should enter into a kind of association 
for the defence of one another, and the confusion of their 
common enemies. As it is designed this neutral body 
5 should act with a regard to nothing but truth and equity, 
and divest themselves of the little heats and preposses- 
sions that cleave to parties of all kinds, I have prepared 
for them the foUow^ing form of an association, which may 
express their intentions in the most plain and simple 
10 manner: 

We whose names are hereunto subscribed, do solemnly de- 
clare that we do in our consciences believe two and two make 
four; and that we shall adjudge any man whatsoever to be 
our enemy who endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We 

15 are likewise ready to maintain, with the hazard of all that is 
near and dear to us, that six is less than seven in all times and 
all places, and that ten will not be more three years hence 
than it is at present. We do also firmly declare that it is our 
resolution as long as we live to call black black, and white 

20 white; and we shall upon all occasions oppose such persons 
that upon any day of the year shall call black white, or white 
black, with the utmost peril of our lives and fortunes. 

Were there such a combination of honest men, who 

without any regard to places would endeavor to extirpate 

25 all such furious zealots as would sacrifice one half of their 

country to the passion and interest of the other — as also 

such infamous hypocrites that are for promoting their 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 89 

own advantage under color of the public good, with all 
the profligate, immoral retainers to each side, that have 
nothing to recommend them but an implicit submission 
tp their leaders — we should soon see that furious party 
spirit extinguished, which may in time expose us to the 5 
derision and contempt of all the nations about us. 

A member of this society that would thus carefully 
employ himself in making room for merit, by throwing 
down the worthless and depraved part of mankind from 
those conspicuous stations of life to which they have been 10 
sometimes advanced, and all this without any regard to 
his private interest, would be no small benefactor to his 
country. 

I remember to have read in Diodorus Siculus an ac- 
count of a very active little animal, which I think he calls 15 
the ichneumon, that makes it the whole business of his 
life to break the eggs of the crocodile, which he is always 
in search after. This instinct is the more remarkable 
because the ichneumon never feeds upon the eggs he has 
broken, nor in any other way finds his account in them. 20 
Were it not for the incessant labors of this industrious 
animal, Egypt, says the historian, would be overrun with 
crocodiles; for the Egyptians are so far from destroying 
those pernicious creatures that they worship them as gods. 

If we look into the behavior of ordinary partisans, we 25 
shall find them far from resembling this disinterested 
animal, and rather acting after the example of the wild 
Tartars, who are ambitious of destroying a man of the 
most extraordinary parts and accomplishments, as think- 
ing that upon his decease the same talents, whatever post 30 
they qualified him for, enter of course into his destroyer. 

As in the whole train of my speculations I have en- 
deavored, as much as I am able, to extinguish that per- 
nicious spirit of passion and prejudice which rages with 



90 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

the same violence in all parties, I am still the more desi- 
rous of doing some good in this particular because I ob- 
serve that the spirit of party reigns more in the country 
than in the town. It here contracts a kind of brutality 
5 and rustic fierceness to which men of a politer conversa- 
tion are wholly strangers. It extends itself even to the 
return of the bow and the hat; and at the same time that 
the heads of parties preserve toward one another an out- 
ward show of good breeding, and keep up a perpetual 

10 intercourse of civilities, their tools that are dispersed in 
these outlying parts will not so much as mingle together 
at a cock-match. This humor fills the country with sev- 
eral periodical meetings of Whig jockeys and Tory fox 
hunters, not to mention the innumerable curses, frowns, 

15 and whispers it produces at a quarter sessions. 

I do not know whether I have observed in any of my 
former papers that my friends Sir Roger de Coverley and _ 
Sir Andrew Freeport are of different principles ; the first ■ 
of them inclined to the landed, and the other to the 

20 moneyed interest. This humor is so moderate in each of 
them that it proceeds no farther than to an agreeable 
raillery, which very often diverts the rest of the club. I 
find, however, that the knight is a much stronger Tory 
in the country than in town, which, as he has told me in 

25 my ear, is absolutely necessary for the keeping up his 
interest. In all our journey from London to his house, 
we did not so much as bait at a Whig inn ; or if by 
chance the coachman stopped at a wrong place, one of 
Sir Roger's servants would ride up to his master full 

30 speed, and whisper to him that the master of the house 
was against such an one in the last election. This often 
betrayed us into hard beds and bad cheer; for we were 
not so inquisitive about the inn as the innkeeper, and 
provided our landlord's principles were sound, did not 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 91 

take any notice of the staleness of his provisions. This 
I found still the more inconvenient because the better 
the host w^as, the w^orse generally were his accommoda- 
tions, the fellow knowing very well that those who were 
his friends would take up with coarse diet and an hard 5 
lodging. For these reasons, all the while I was upon the 
road I dreaded entering into a house of any one that 
Sir Roger had applauded for an honest man. 

Since my stay at Sir Roger's in the country, I daily find 
more instance of this narrow party humor. Being upon a 10 
bowling green at a neighboring market town the other day 
— for that is the place where the gentlemen of one side 
meet once a week — I observed a stranger among them of 
a better presence and genteeler behavior than ordinary, 
but was much surprised that, notwithstanding he was a 15 
very fair better, nobody would take him up. But upon 
inquiry, I found that he was one who had given a dis- 
agreeable vote in a former parliament, for which reason 
there was not a man upon that bowling green who would 
have so much correspondence with him as to win his 20 
money of him. 

Among other instances of this nature, I must not omit 
one which concerns myself. Will Wimble was the other 
day relating several strange stories, that he had picked up, 
nobody knows where, of a certain great man ; and upon 25 
my staring at him, as one that was surprised to hear such 
things in the country, which had never been so much as 
whispered in the town. Will stopped short in the thread 
of his discourse, and after dinner asked my friend Sir 
Roger in his ear if he was sure that I was .not a 30 
fanatic. 

It gives me a serious concern to see such a spirit of 
dissension in the country ; not only as it destroys virtue 
and common sense, and renders us in a manner barbarians 



92 The Sir Roger de Coverlcy Papers 

towards one another, but as it perpetuates our animosities, 
widens our breaches, and transmits our present passions 
and prejudices to our posterit3\ For m}^ own part, I am 
sometimes afraid that I discover the seeds of a civil war 
5 in these our divisions, and therefore cannot but bewail, as 
in their first principles, the miseries and calamities of our 
children. C. 



XXI. SIR ROGER AND THE GYPSIES 

[No. 130. Monday, July 30, 1711. Addison.] 

Semperque recentes 
Convectare juvat praedas, et vivere rapto. 

ViRG. 

As I was yesterday riding out in the fields with my 
friend Sir Roger, we saw at a little distance from us a 

10 troop of gypsies. Upon the first discovery of them, my 
friend was in some doubt whether he should not exert the 
justice of the peace upon such a band of lawless vagrants; 
but not having his clerk with him, who is a necessary 
counselor on these occasions, and fearing that his poultry 

15 might fare the worse for it, he let the thought drop ; but 
at the same time gave me a particular account of the mis- 
chiefs they do in the country, in stealing people's goods 
and spoiling their servants. *' If a stray piece of linen 
hangs upon an hedge," says Sir Roger, '' they are sure to 

20 have it; if a hog loses his way in the fields, it is ten to 
one but he becomes their prey ; our geese cannot live in 
peace for them; if a man prosecutes them with severity, 
his hen-roost is sure to pay for it. They generally straggle 
into these parts about this time of the year, and set the 

25 heads of our servant-maids so agog for husbands that we 
do not expect to have any business done as it should be 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 93 

whilst they are in the country. I have an honest dairy- 
maid who crosses their hands with a piece of silver every 
summer, and never fails being promised the handsomest 
young fellow in the parish for her pains. Your friend 
the butler has been fool enough to be seduced by them ; 5 
and though he is sure to lose a knife, a fork, or a spoon 
every time his fortune is told him, generally shuts himself 
up in the pantry with an old gypsy for above half an hour 
once in a twelvemonth. Sweethearts are the things they 
live upon, which they bestow very plentifully upon all 10 
those that apply themselves to them. You see now and then 
some handsome young jades among them; the wenches 
have very often white teeth and black eyes." 

Sir Roger, observing that I listened with great attention 
to his account of a people who were so entirely new to me, 15 
told me that if I would they should tell us our fortunes. 
As I was very well pleased with the knight's proposal, 
we rid up and communicated our hands to them. A 
Cassandra of the crew, after having examined my lines 
very diligently, told me that I loved a pretty maid in a 20 
corner; that I was a good woman's man; with some 
other particulars which I do not think proper to relate. 
My friend Sir Roger alighted from his horse, and expos- 
ing his palm to two or three that stood by him, they 
crumpled it into all shapes, and diligently scanned every 25 
wrinkle that could be made in it ; when one of them, who 
was older and more sunburnt than the rest, told him that 
he had a widow in his line of life; upon which the knight 
cried, ^' Go, go, you are an idle baggage!" and at the 
same time smiled upon me. The gypsy, finding he was 30 
not displeased in his heart, told him, after a farther in- 
quiry into his hand, that his true love was constant, and 
that she should dream of him to-night. My old friend 
cried ''Pish!" and bid her go on. The gypsy told him 



94 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

that he was a bachelor, but would not be so long; and 
that he was dearer to somebody than he thought. The 
knight still repeated she w^as an idle baggage, and bid her 
go on. '' Ah, master," says the gypsy, *' that roguish leer 
5 of yours makes a pretty woman's heart ache ; you ha'n't 
that simper about the mouth for nothing." The un- 
couth gibberish with which all this was uttered, like the 
darkness of an oracle, made us the more attentive to it. 
To be short, the knight left the money with her that he 

10 had crossed her hand with, and got up again on his 
horse. 

As we were riding away. Sir Roger told me that he 
knew several sensible people who believed these g>^psies 
now and then foretold very strange things; and for half 

15 an hour together appeared more jocund than ordinary. 
In the height of his good humor, meeting a common beg- 
gar upon the road who was no conjurer, as he w^nt to 
relieve him, he found his pocket was picked; that being 
a kind of palmistry at which this race of vermin are very 

20 dextrous. 

I might here entertain my reader with historical re- 
marks on this idle, profligate people, who infest all the 
countries of Europe, and live in the midst of governments 
in a kind of commonwealth by themselves. But instead 

25 of entering into observations of this nature, I shall fill 
the remaining part of my paper with a story which is 
still fresh in Holland, and was printed in one of our 
monthly accounts about twenty years ago: 

\ 

" As the trekschuyt, or hackney-boat, which carries passen- 
30 gers from Leyden to Amsterdam, was putting off, a boy run- 
ning along the side of the canal desired to be taken in; which 
the master of the boat refused, because the lad had not quite 
money enough to pay the usual fare. An eminent merchant, 
being pleased with the looks of the boy and secretly touched 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 95 

with compassion towards him, paid the money for him, and 
ordered him to be taken on board. 

" Upon talking with him afterwards, he found that he could 
speak readily in three or four languages, and learned upon far- 
ther examination that he had been stolen away when he was 5 
a child, by a gypsy, and had rambled ever since with a gang 
of those strollers up and down several parts of Europe. It 
happened that the merchant, whose heart seems to have in- 
clined towards the boy by a secret kind of instinct, had him- 
self lost a child some years before. The parents, after a long 10 
search for him, gave him for drowned in one of the canals 
with which that country abounds; and the mother was so af- 
flicted at the loss of a fine boy, who was her only son, that 
she died for grief of it. 

" Upon laying together all the particulars, and examining the 15 
several moles and marks by which the mother used to describe 
the child when he was first missing, the boy proved to be the 
son of the merchant whose heart had so unaccountably melted 
at the sight of him. The lad was well pleased to find 
a father, who was so rich, and likely to leave him a good 20 
estate; the father, on the other hand, was not a little de- 
lighted to see a son return to him, whom he had given for 
lost, with such a strength of constitution, sharpness of under- 
standing, and skill in languages." 

Here the printed story leaves off; but if I may give 25 
credit to reports, our linguist having received such ex- 
traordinary rudiments towards a good education, was 
afterwards trained up in everything that becomes a gentle- 
man ; wearing off by little and little all the vicious habits 
and practices that he had been used to in the course of his 30 
peregrinations. Nay, it is said that he has since been 
employed in foreign courts upon national business, with 
great reputation to himself and honor to those who sent 
him, and that he has visited several countries as a public 
minister, in which he formerly wandered as a gypsv. 35 

C. 



g6 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 



XXII. MR. SPECTATOR DECIDES TO RE- 
. TURN TO LONDON 

[No. 131. Tuesday, July 31, 1711. Addison.] 

Ipsae rursum concedite sllvae. 

ViRG. 

It is usual for a man who loves country sports to pre- 
serve the game in his own grounds, and divert himself 
upon those that belong to his neighbor. My friend Sir 
Roger generally goes two or three miles from his house, 

5 and gets into the frontiers of his estate, before he beats 
about in search of an hare or partridge, on purpose to 
spare his own fields, where he is always sure of finding 
diversion when the worst comes to the worst. By this 
means the breed about his house has time to increase 

10 and multiply ; besides that, the sport is the more agree- 
able where the game is the harder to come at, and does 
not lie so thick as to produce any perplexity or confusion 
in the pursuit. For these reasons the country gentle- 
man, like the fox, seldom preys near his own home. 

15 In the same manner I have made a month's excursion 
out of the town, which is the great field of game for 
sportsmen of my species, to try my fortune in the coun- 
try, where I have started several subjects and hunted 
them down, with some pleasure to myself, and I hope to 

20 others. I am here forced to use a great deal of diligence 
before I can spring anything to my mind; whereas in 
town, whilst I am following one character, it is ten to 
one but I am crossed in my way by another, and put up 
such a variety of odd creatures in both sexes that they 

25 foil the scent of one another and puzzle the chase. My 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 97 

greatest difficulty in the country is to find sport, and in 
town to choose it. In the meantime, as I have given a 
vi^hole month's rest to the cities of London and West- 
minster, I promise myself abundance of new game upon 
my return thither. 5 

It is indeed high time for me to leave the country, 
since I find the whole neighborhood begin to grow very 
inquisitive after my name and character, my love of soli- 
tude, taciturnity, and particular way of life, having raised 
a great curiosity in all these parts. 10 

The notions which have been framed of me are vari- 
ous; some look upon me as very proud, and some as 
very melancholy. Will Wimble, as my friend the butler 
tells me, observing me very much alone, and extremely 
silent when I am in company, is afraid I have killed a 15 
man. The country people seem to suspect me for a con- 
jurer; and some of them hearing of the visit which I 
made to Moll White, will needs have it that Sir Roger has 
brought down a cunning man with him, to cure the old 
woman, and free the country from her charms. So that 20 
the character which I go under in part of the neighbor- 
hood is what they here call a ^' White Witch." 

A justice of peace, who lives about five miles off, and 
is not of Sir Roger's party, has, it seems, said twice or 
thrice at his table that he wishes Sir Roger does not 25 
harbor a Jesuit in his house, and that he thinks the gen- 
tlemen of the country would do very well to make me 
give some account of myself. 

On the other side, some of Sir Roger's friends are 
afraid the old knight is imposed upon by a designing 30 
fellow, and as they have heard that he converses very 
promiscuously when he Is in town, do not know but he 
has brought down with him some discarded Whig, that is 
sullen and says nothing because he is out of place. 



98 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

Such is the variety of opinions which are here enter- 
tained of me, so that I pass among some for a disaffected 
person, and among others for a popish priest; among 
some for a wizard, and among others for a murderer; and 

5 all this for no other reason, that I can imagine, but be- 
cause I do not hoot and hollow and make a noise. It is 
true my friend Sir Roger tells them that it is my way, 
and that I am only a philosopher; but that will not sat- 
isfy them. They think there is more in me than he dis- 

10 covers, and that I do not hold my tongue for nothing. 

For these and other reasons I shall set out for London 

to-morrow% having found by experience that the country 

is not a place for a person of my temper, who does not 

love jollity, and what they call " good neighborhood.'* 

15 A man that is out of" humor when an unexpected guest 
breaks in upon him and does not care for sacrificing an 
afternoon to every chance comer, that will be the master 
of his own time and the pursuer of his own inclinations, 
makes but a very unsociable figure in this kind of life. I 

20 shall therefore retire into the town, if I may make use of 
that phrase, and get into the crowd again as fast as I can, 
in order to be alone. I can there raise what speculations 
I please upon others without being observed myself, and 
at the same time enjoy all the advantages of company 

25 with all the privileges of solitude. In the meanwhile, to 
finish the month, and conclude these my rural specula- 
tions, I shall here insert a letter from my friend Will 
Honeycomb, who has not lived a month for these forty 
years out of the smoke of London, and rallies me after 

30 his way upon my country life. 



" Dear Spec, 

I suppose this letter will find thee picking of daisies, or 
smelling to a lock of hay, or passing away thy time in some 
innocent country diversion of the like nature. I have, how- 



I 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 99 

ever, orders from the club to summon thee up to town, 
being all of us cursedly afraid thou wilt not be able to relish 
our company after thy conversations with Moll White and 
Will Wimble. Pr'ythee don't send us up any more stories 
of a cock and a bull, nor frighten the town with spirits 5 
and witches. Thy speculations begin to smell confoundedly of 
woods and meadows. If thou dost not come up quickly, we 
shall conclude that thou art in love with one of Sir Roger's 
dairy-maids. Service to the knight. Sir Andrew is grown the 
cock of the club since he left us, and if he does not return lo 
quickly will make every mother's son of us Commonwealth's 
men. 

Dear Spec, thine eternally, 

Will Honeycomb.'' 

C. 15 



XXIIL THE JOURNEY TO LONDON 

[No. 132. Wednesday, August i, 171 1. Steele.] 

Qui aut tempus quid postulet non videt, aut plura loquitur, 
aut se ostentat, aut eorum quibuscum est rationem non habet, 
is ineptus esse dicitur. 

TULL. 

Having notified to my good friend Sir Roger that I 
should set out for London the next day, his horses were 
ready at the appointed hour in the evening; and attended 
by one of his grooms, I arrived at the county town at 
twih'ght, in order to be ready for the stage-coach the day 20 
following. As soon as we arrived at the inn, the servant 
who waited upon me inquired of the chamberlain, in my 
hearing, what company he had for the coach. The fellow 
answered, '' Mrs. Betty Arable, the great fortune, and the 
widow, her mother; a recruiting officer — who took a 25 
place because they were to go; young Squire Quickset, 
her cousin — that her mother wished her to be married 
to; Ephraim, the Quaker, her guardian; and a gentle- 



lOO The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

man that had studied himself dumb from Sir Roger de 
Coverley's." I observed, by what he said of myself, that 
according to his office, he dealt much in intelligence; 
and doubted not but there was some foundation for his 
5 reports of the rest of the company, as well as for the 
whimsical account he gave of me. 

The next morning at daybreak w^e were all called ; and 
I, who know my own natural shyness, and endeavor to 
be as little liable to be disputed with as possible, dressed 

10 immediately, that I might make no one wait. The first 
preparation for our setting out was that the captain's 
half-pike was placed near the coachman, and a drum 
behind the coach. In the meantime the drummer, the 
captain's equipage, was very loud that none of the cap- 

15 tain's things should be placed so as to be spoiled ; upon 
which his cloak bag was fixed in the seat of the coach; 
and the captain himself, according to a frequent though 
invidious behavior of military men, ordered his man to 
look sharp that none but one of the ladies should have 

20 the place he had taken fronting to the coach-box. 

We were in some little time fixed in our seats, and 
sat with that dislike which people not too good-natured 
usually conceive of each other at first sight. The coach 
jumbled us insensibly into some sort of familiarity, and 

25 we had not moved above two miles when the widow asked 
the captain what success he had in his recruiting. The 
officer, with a frankness he believed very graceful, told 
her that indeed he had but very little luck, and had suf- 
fered much by desertion, therefore should be glad to end 

30 his warfare in the service of her or her fair daughter. 
^' In a word," continued he, *' I am a soldier, and to be 
plain is my character; you see me, madam, young, sound, 
and impudent ; take me yourself, widow, or give me to 
her; I will be wholly at your disposal. I am a soldier of 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers loi 

fortune, ha! " This was followed by a vain laugh of his 
own, and a deep silence of all the rest of the company. 
I had nothing left for it but to fall fast asleep, which I did 
with all speed. ^' Come," said he, '* resolve upon it, we 
will make a wedding at the next town : we will wake this 5 
pleasant companion who has fallen asleep, to be the bride- 
man, and " — giving the Quaker a clap on the knee — 
he concluded, '' this sly saint, who, I'll warrant, under- 
stands what's what as well as you or I, widow, shall give 
the bride as father." 10 

The Quaker, who happened to be a man of smartness, 
answered, ^' Friend, I take it in good part that thou hast 
given me the authority of a father over this comely and 
virtuous child; and I must assure thee that if I have the 
giving her, I shall not bestow her on thee. Thy mirth, 15 
friend, savoreth of folly; thou art a person of a light 
mind; thy drum is a type of thee — it soundeth because 
it is empty. Verily, it is not from thy fullness, but thy 
emptiness, that thou hast spoken this day. Friend, friend, 
we have hired this coach in partnership with thee, to carry 20 
us to the great city; we cannot go any other way. This 
worthy mother must hear thee if thou wilt needs utter 
thy follies; we cannot help it, friend, I say; if thou wilt, 
we must hear thee ; ^t, if thou wert a man of under- 
standing, thou wouldst not take advantage of thy coura- 25 
geous countenance to abash us children of peace. Thou 
art, thou sayest, a soldier; give quarter to us, who can- 
not resist thee. Why didst thou fleer at our friend, who 
feigned himself asleep? He said nothing, but how dost 
thou know what he containeth? If thou speakest improper 30 
things in the hearing of this virtuous young virgin, con- 
sider it is an outrage against a distressed person that 
cannot get from thee: to speak indiscreetly what we are 
obliged to hear, by being hasped up with thcc in this 



I02 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

public vehicle, is in some degree assaulting on the high 
road." 

Here Ephraim paused, and the captain, with an happy 
and uncommon impudence — which can be convicted and 
5 support itself at the same time — cries, '' Faith, friend, I 
thank thee ; I should have been a little impertinent if thou 
hadst not reprimanded me. Come, thou art, I see, a 
smoky old fellow, and I'll be very orderly the ensuing part 
of the journey. I was going to give myself airs; but, 

10 ladies, I beg pardon." 

The captain was so little out of humor, and our com- 
pany was so far from being soured by this little ruffle, that 
Ephraim and he took a particular delight in being agree- 
able to each other for the future, and assumed their dif- 

15 ferent provinces in the conduct of the company. Our 
reckonings, apartments, and accommodation fell under 
Ephraim; and the captain looked to all disputes on the 
road — as the good behavior of our coachman, and the 
right we had of taking place as going to London of all 

20 vehicles coming from thence. 

The occurrences we met with were ordinary, and very 
little happened which could entertain by the relation of 
them; but when I considered the company we were in, I 
took it for no small good fortune that the whole journey 

25 was not spent in impertinences, which to one part of us 
might be an entertainment, to the other a suffering. 

What, therefore, Ephraim said when we were almost 
arrived at London, had to me an air not only of good 
understanding, but good breeding. Upon the young lady^s 

30 expressing her satisfaction in the journey, and declaring 
how delightful it had been to her, Ephraim delivered 
himself as follows: ''There is no ordinary part of hu- 
man life which expresseth so much a good mind and a 
right inward man, as his behavior upon meeting with 



II 
II 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 103 

strangers, especially such as may seem the most unsuit- 
able companions to him; such a man, when he falleth 
in the way with persons of simplicity and innocence, 
however knowing he may be in the ways of men, will 
not vaunt himself thereof; but will the rather hide his 5 
superiority to them, that he may not be painful unto 
them. My good friend," continued he, turning to the 
officer, '^ thee and I are to part by and by, and perad- 
venture we may never meet again; but be advised by a 
plain man: modes and apparel are but trifles to the real 10 
man; therefore do not think such a man as thyself terri- 
ble for thy garb, nor such a one as me contemptible for 
mine. When two such as thee and I meet, with affec- 
tions as we ought to have towards each other, thou 
shouldst rejoice to see my peaceable demeanor, and I 15 
should be glad to see thy strength and ability to protect 
me in it." T. 



XXIV. SIR ROGER AND SIR ANDREW IN 
ARGUMENT 

[No. 174. Wednesday, Sept. 19, 1711. Steele.] 
Haec memini et victum frustra contendere Thyrsin. 

ViRG. 

There is scarce anything more common than ani- 
mosities between parties that cannot subsist but by their 
agreement. This was well represented in the sedition of 20 
the members of the human body in the old Roman fable. 
It is often the case of lesser confederate states against a 
superior power, which are hardly held together, though 
their unanimity is necessary for their common safety; and 
this is always the case of the landed and trading interest 25 



I04 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

of Great Britain ; the trader is fed by the product of the 

land, and the landed man cannot be clothed but by the 

skill of the trader; and yet those interests are ever jarring. 

We had last winter an instance of this at our club in 

5 Sir Roger de Coverley and Sir Andrew Freeport, between 
whom there is generally a constant, though friendly, oppo- 
sition of opinions. It happened that one of the company, 
in an historical discourse, was obserxing that Carthaginian 
faith was a proverbial phrase to intimate breach of leagues. 

lo Sir Roger said it *' could hardly be otherwise ; that the 
Carthaginians were the greatest traders in the world, and 
as gain is the chief end of such a people — they never 
pursue any other — the means to it are never regarded. 
They will, if it comes easily, get money honestly; but if 

15 not, they will not scruple to attain it by fraud, or cozenage. 
And, indeed, what is the whole business of the trader's 
account but to overreach him who trusts to his memory- ? 
But were that not so, what can there great and noble be 
expected from him whose attention is forever fixed up)on 

20 balancing his books and watching over his expenses ? 
And at best let frugality- and parsimony be the virtues of 
the merchant, how much is his punctual dealing below a 
gentleman's charity to the poor, or hospitalit}' among his 
neighbors? '' 

25 Captain Sentry obser\-ed Sir Andrew ver\- diligent in 
hearing Sir Roger, and had a mind to turn the discourse, 
by taking notice, in general, from the highest to the low- 
est parts of human society, there was "a secret though 
unjust way among men of indulging the seeds of ill-nature 

30 and en\y by comparing their own state of life to that of 
another, and grudging the approach of their neighbor to 
their own happiness : and on the other side, he who is the 
less at his ease repines at the other who, he thinks, has 
unjustly the advantage over him. Thus the civil and 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 105 

military lists look upon each other with much ill-nature; 
the soldier repines at the courtier's power, and the cour- 
tier rallies the soldier's honor; or, to come to lower 
instances, the private men in the horse and foot of an 
army, the carmen and coachmen in the city streets, mutu- 5 
ally look upon each other with ill-will, when they are in 
competition for quarters or the way, in their respective 
motions." 

" It is very well, good captain," interrupted Sir An- 
drew ; " you may attempt to turn the discourse if you 10 
think fit ; but I must, however, have a word or two with 
Sir Roger, who, I see, thinks he has paid me off, and been 
very severe upon the merchant. I shall not," continued he, 
** at this time remind Sir Roger of the great and noble 
monuments of charity and public spirit which have been 15 
erected by merchants since the Reformation, but at pres- 
ent content myself with what he allows us — parsimony 
and frugality. If it were consistent with the quality 
of so ancient a baronet as Sir Roger to keep an account, 
or measure things by the most infallible way, that of num- 20 
bers, he would prefer our parsimony to his hospitality. If 
to drink so many hogsheads is to be hospitable, we do 
not contend for the fame of that virtue; but it would 
be worth while to consider whether so many artificers 
at work ten days together by my appointment, or so many 25 
peasants made merry on Sir Roger's charge, are the men 
more obliged? I believe the families of the artificers will 
thank me more than the households of the peasants shall 
Sir Roger. Sir Roger gives to his men, but I place mine 
above the necessity or obligation of my bounty. I am in 30 
very little pain for the Roman proverb upon the Car- 
thaginian traders; the Romans were their professed ene- 
mies. I am only sorry no Carthaginian histories have 
come to our hands; we might have been taught, perhaps, 



io6 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

by them some proverbs against the Roman generosity, in 
fighting for and bestowing other people's goods. But 
since Sir Roger has taken occasion from an old proverb 
to be out of humor with merchants, it should be no of- 
5 fence to offer one not quite so old in their defence. 
When a man happens to break in Holland, they say of 
him that ' he has not kept true accounts.^ This phrase, 
perhaps, among us w^ould appear a soft or humorous way 
of speaking; but with that exact nation it bears the high- 

10 est reproach. For a man to be mistaken in the calcula- 
tion of his expense, in his ability to answer future de- 
mands, or to be impertinently sanguine in putting his 
credit to too great adventure, are all instances of as 
much infamy as, with gayer nations, to be failing in 

15 courage or common honesty. 

'' Numbers are so much the measure of everything that 
is valuable that it is not possible to demonstrate the suc- 
cess of any action, or the prudence of any undertaking 
without them. I say this in answer to what Sir Roger 

20 is pleased to say, that ' little that is truly noble can be 
expected from one who is ever poring on his cashbook or 
balancing his accounts.' When I have my returns from 
abroad, I can tell to a shilling by the help of numbers the 
profit or loss by my adventure; but I ought also to be 

25 able to show^ that I had reason for making it, either from 
my own experience or that of other people, or from a 
reasonable presumption that my returns will be sufficient 
to answer my expense and hazard ; and this is never to be 
done without the skill of numbers. For instance, if I am 

30 to trade to Turkey, I ought beforehand to know the de- 
mand of our manufactures there, as well as of their silks 
in England, and the customary prices that are given for 
both in each country. I ought to have a clear knowledge 
of these matters beforehand, that I may presume upon 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 107 

sufficient returns to answer the charge of the cargo I have 
fitted out, the freight and assurance out and home, the 
custom to the queen, and the interest of my own money, 
and besides all these expenses, a reasonable profit to 
myself. Now what is there of scandal in this skill? 5 
What has the merchant done that he should be so little 
in the good graces of Sir Roger? He throws down no 
man's enclosure, and tramples upon no man's corn; he 
takes nothing from the industrious laborer; he pays the 
poor man for his work; he communicates his profit with 10 
mankind ; by the preparation of his cargo, and the manu- 
facture of his returns, he furnishes employment and sub- 
sistence to greater numbers than the richest nobleman; 
and even the nobleman is obliged to him for finding out 
foreign markets for the produce of his estate, and for 15 
making a great addition to his rents; and yet it is cer- 
tain that none of all these things could be done by him 
without the exercise of his skill in numbers. 

^* This is the economy of the merchant ; and the con- 
duct of the gentleman must be the same, unless by 20 
scorning to be the steward, he resolves the steward shall 
be the gentleman. The gentleman, no more than the 
merchant, is able, without the help of numbers, to account 
for the success of any action, or the prudence of any 
adventure. If, for instance, the chase is his whole adven- 25 
ture, his only returns must be the stag's horns in the 
great hall and the fox's nose upon the stable door. 
Without doubt Sir Roger knows the full value of these 
returns; and if beforehand he had computed the charges 
of the chase, a gentleman of his discretion would cer- 30 
tainly have hanged up all his dogs; he would never have 
brought back so many fine horses to the kennel ; he 
would never have gone so often, like a blast, over fields 
of corn. If such, too, had been the conduct of all his 



io8 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

ancestors, he might truly have boasted, at this day, that 
the antiquity of his family had never been sullied by a 
trade; a merchant had never been permitted w^ith his 
whole estate to purchase a room for his picture in the 

5 gallery of the Coverleys', or to claim his descent from the 
maid of honor. But 'tis very happy for Sir Roger that 
the merchant paid so dear for his ambition. 'Tis the 
misfortune of many other gentlemen to turn out of the 
seats of their ancestors to make way for such new masters 

10 as have been more exact in their accounts than them- 
selves; and certainly he deserves the estate a great deal 
better who has got it by his industry, than he who has 
lost it by his negligence." T. 



XXV. SIR ROGER VISITS LONDON * 

[No. 269. Tuesday, January 8, 1712. Addison.] 

Aevo rarissima nostro 
Simplicitas. 

Ovid. 

I WAS this morning surprised with a great knocking at 
15 the door, when my landlady's daughter came up to me 
and told me that there was a man below desired to 
speak with me. Upon my asking her who it was, she 
told me it was a very grave, elderly person, but that she 
did not know his name. I immediately went down to 
20 him, and found him to be the coachman of my worthy 
friend Sir Roger de Coverley. He told me that his mas- 
ter came to town last night, and would be glad to take a 
turn with me in Gray's Inn Walks. As I w^as wondering 
in myself what had brought Sir Roger to town, not hav- 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 109 

ing lately received any letter from him, he told me that 
his master was come up to get a sight of Prince Eugene, 
and that he desired I would immediately meet him. 

I was not a little pleased with the curiosity of the old 
knight, though I did not much wonder at it, having heard 5 
him say more than once in private discourse that he 
looked upon Prince Eugenio — for so the knight always 
calls him — to be a greater man than Scanderbeg. 

I was no sooner come into Gray's Inn Walks, but I 
heard my friend upon the terrace hemming twice or 10 
thrice to himself with great vigor, for he loves to clear 
his pipes in good air — to make use of his own phrase — 
and is not a little pleased with any one who takes notice 
of the strength which he still exerts in his morning hems. 

I was touched with a secret joy at the sight of the good 15 
old man, who before he saw me was engaged in conver- 
sation with a beggar-man that had asked an alms of him. 
I could hear my friend chide him for not finding out 
some work; but at the same time saw him put his hand 
in his pocket and give him sixpence. 20 

Our salutations were very hearty on both sides, con- 
sisting of many kind shakes of the hand, and several 
affectionate looks which we cast upon one another. After 
which the knight told me my good friend his chaplain 
was very well, and much at my service, and that the 25 
Sunday before he had made a most incomparable sermon 
out of Doctor Barrow. *' I have left," says he, '' all my 
affairs in his hands, and being willing to lay an obligation 
upon him, have deposited with him thirty marks, to be 
distributed among his poor parishioners." 30 

He then proceeded to acquaint me with the welfare of 
Will Wimble. Upon which he put his hand into his fob 
and presented me, in his name, with a tobacco stopper, 
telling me that Will had been busy all the beginning of 



no The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

the winter in turning great quantities of them, and that 
he made a present of one to every gentleman in the 
country who has good principles and smokes. He added 
that poor Will w^as at present under great tribulation, for 
5 that Tom Touchy had taken the law of him for cutting 
some hazel sticks out of one of his hedges. 

Among other pieces of news which the knight brought 
from his countr5^-seat, he informed me that Moll White 
was dead; and that about a month after her death the 

ID wind was so very high that it blew down the end of one 

of his barns. " But for my own part," says Sir Roger, 

" I do not think that the old woman had any hand in it." 

He afterwards fell into an account of the diversions 

which had passed in his house during the holidays; for 

15 Sir Roger, after the laudable custom of his ancestors, 
always keeps open house at Christmas. I learned from 
him that he had killed eight fat hogs for this season, that 
he had dealt about his chines very liberally amongst his 
neighbors, and that in particular he had sent a string of 

20 hog's-puddings with a pack of cards to every poor family 
in the parish. " I have often thought," says Sir Roger, 
'' it happens very well that Christmas should fall out in 
the middle of the winter. It is the most dead, uncom- 
fortable time of the year, when the poor people would 

25 sufifer very much from their poverty and cold if they had 
not good cheer, warm fires, and Christmas gambols to 
support them. I love to rejoice their poor hearts at this 
season, and to see the whole village merry in my great 
hall. I allow a double quantity of malt to my small beer, 

30 and set it a running for twelve days to every one that calls 
for it. I have always a piece of cold beef and a mince- 
pie upon the table, and am wonderfully pleased to see my 
tenants pass away a whole evening in playing their inno- 
cent tricks, and smutting one another. Our friend Will 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 1 1 1 

Wimble is as merry as any of them, and shows a thou- 
sand roguish tricks upon these occasions." 

I was very much delighted with the reflection of my 
old friend, which carried so much goodness in it. He 
then launched out into the praise of the late Act of Parlia- 5 
ment for securing the Church of England, and told me, 
with great satisfaction, that he believed it already began 
to take effect, for that a rigid Dissenter, who chanced to 
dine at his house on Christmas day, had been observed to 
eat very plentifully of his plum-porridge. 10 

After having dispatched all our country matters. Sir 
Roger made several inquiries concerning the club, and 
particularly of his old antagonist. Sir Andrew Freeport. 
He asked me with a kind of smile whether Sir Andrew 
had not taken advantage of his absence to vent among 15 
them some of his republican doctrines; but soon after, 
gathering up his countenance into a more than ordinary 
seriousness, " Tell me truly," says he, '' don't you think 
Sir Andrew had a hand in the Pope's Procession?" But 
without giving me time to answer him, ^' Well, well," says 20 
he, *' I know you are a wary man, and do not care to talk 
of public matters." 

The knight then asked me if I had seen Prince Eugenio, 
and made me promise to get him a stand in some con- 
venient place, where he might have a full sight of that 25 
extraordinary man, whose presence does so much honor 
to the British nation. He dwelt very long on the praises 
of this great general, and I found that, since I was with 
him in the country, he had drawn many observations 
together out of his reading in Baker's Chronicle, and 30 
other authors who always lie in his hall window, which 
very much redound to the honor of this prince. 

Having passed away the greatest part of the morning 
in hearing the knight's reflections, which were partly 



112 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

private and partly political, he asked me if I would smoke 
a pipe with him over a dish of coffee at Squire's. As I 
love the old man, I take delight in complying with every- 
thing that is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on 
5 him to the coffee-house, where his venerable figure drew 
upon us the eyes of the whole room. He had no sooner 
seated himself at the upper end of the high table, but he 
called for a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of 
coffee, a wax candle, and the Supple?nent, with such an 
10 air of cheerfulness and good humor that all the boys in 
the coffee-room — who seemed to take pleasure in serv- 
ing him — were at once employed on his several errands; 
insomuch that nobody else could come at a dish of tea 
till the knight had got all his conveniences about him. 

L. 



XXVI. PIN-MONEY 

[No. 295. Thursday, February 7, 1712. Addison.] 

Prodiga non sentit pereuntem femina censum: 
At velut exhausta redivivus pullulet area 
Nummus, et e pleno semper tollatur acervo, 
Non unquam reputat quanti sibi gaudia constent. 

Juv. 

'' Mr. Spectator, 

15 I am turned of my great climacteric, and am naturally 
a man of a meek temper. About a dozen years ago I was 
married, for my sins, to a young woman of a good family 
and of an high spirit; but could not bring her to marry 
me, before I had entered into a treaty with her longer 

20 than that of the grand alliance. Among other articles, it 
was therein stipulated that she should have 400/. a year 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 113 

for pin-money, which I obliged myself to pay quarterly 
into the hands of one who acted as her plenipotentiary in 
that affair. I have ever since religiously observed my part 
in this solemn agreement. Now, sir, so it is, that the lady 
has had several children since I married her. The educa- 5 
tion of these my children straitens me so much that I have 
begged their mother to free me from the obligation of the 
above-mentioned pin-money, that it may go towards mak- 
ing a provision for her family. This proposal makes her 
noble blood swell in her veins, insomuch that finding me 10 
a little tardy in her last quarter's payment, she threatens 
me every day to arrest me; and proceeds so far as to tell 
me that if I do not do her justice, I shall die in a jail. To 
this she adds, when her passion will let her argue calmly, 
that she has several play-debts on her hand, which must 15 
be discharged very suddenly, and that she cannot lose her 
money as becomes a woman of her fashion, if she makes 
me any abatements in this article. I hope, sir, you will 
take an occasion from hence to give your opinion upon a 
subject which you have not yet touched, and inform us 20 
if there are any precedents for this usage among our an- 
cestors; or whether you find any mention of pin-money in 
Grotius, Pufendorf, or any other of the civilians. 
I am ever the humblest of your admirers, 

Josiah Fribble, Esq.'* 25 

As there is no man living who is a more professed advo- 
cate for the fair sex than myself, so there is none that 
would be more unwilling to invade any of their ancient 
rights and privileges; but as the doctrine of pin-money is of 
a very late date, unknown to our great grandmothers, and 30 
not yet received by many of our modern ladies, I think it 
is for the interest of both sexes to keep it from spreading. 

Mr. Fribble may not, perhaps, be much mistaken where 



114 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

he intimates that the supplying a man's wife with pin- 
money, is furnishing her with arms against himself. We 
may, indeed, generally observe, that in proportion as a 
woman is more or less beautiful, and her husband ad- 
5 vanced in years, she stands in need of a greater or less 
number of pins, and upon a treaty of marriage, rises or 
falls in her demands accordingly. It must likewise be 
owned that high quality in a mistress does very much in- 
flame this article in the marriage reckoning. 

10 But where the age and circumstances of both parties 
are pretty much upon a level, I cannot but think the 
insisting upon pin-money is very extraordinary; and yet 
we find several matches broken off upon this very head. 
What would a foreigner, or one who is a stranger to this 

15 practice, think of a lover that forsakes his mistress because 
he is not willing to keep her in pins? But what would he 
think of the mistress, should he be informed that she asks 
five or six hundred pounds a year for this use? Should 
a man unacquainted with our customs be told the sums 

20 which are allowed in Great Britain under the title of 
pin-money, what a prodigious consumption of pins would 
he think there was in this island? ''A pin a day," says 
our frugal proverb, "is a groat a year''; so that accord- 
ing to this calculation, my friend Fribble's wife must every 

25 year make use of eight millions six hundred and forty 
thousand new pins. 

I am not ignorant that our British ladies allege they 
comprehend under this general term several other con- 
veniences of life; I could therefore wish, for the honor 

30 of my country-women, that they had rather called it 
needle-money, which might have implied something of 
good-housewifery, and not have given the malicious world 
occasion to think that dress and trifle have always the 
uppermost place in a woman's thoughts. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 115 

I know several of my fair readers urge, in defence of 
this practice, that it is but a necessary provision they make 
for themselves, in case their husband proves a churl or a 
miser; so that they consider this allowance as a kind of 
alimony, which they may lay their claim to without actu- 5 
ally separating from their husbands. But with submis- 
sion, I think a woman who will give up herself to a man 
in marriage where there is the least room for such an 
apprehension, and trust her person to one whom she will 
not rely on for the common necessaries of life may very 10 
properly be accused — in the phrase of an homely proverb — 
of being '' penny wise and pound foolish/^ 

It is observed of over-cautious generals that they never 
engage in a battle without securing a retreat, in case the 
event should not answer their expectations; on the other 15 
hand, the greatest conquerors have burnt their ships, and 
broke down the bridges behind them, as being determined 
either to succeed or die in the engagement. In the same 
manner I should very much suspect a woman who takes 
such precautions for her retreat, and contrives methods 20 
how she may live happily, without the affection of one to 
whom she joins herself for life. Separate purses, between 
man and wife, are, in my opinion, as unnatural as 
separate beds. A marriage cannot be happy, where 
the pleasures, inclinations, and interests of both parties 25 
are not the same. There is no greater incitement to 
love in the mind of man, than the sense of a person's de- 
pending upon him for her ease and happiness ; as a woman 
uses all her endeavors to please the person whom she 
looks upon as her honor, her comfort, and her 30 
support. 

For this reason I am not very much surprised at the be- 
havior of a rough country squire, who, being not a little 
shocked at the proceedings of a young widow that would 



ii6 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

not recede from her demands of pin-money, was so en- 
raged at her mercenary temper that he told her in great 
wrath, ''As much as she thought him her slave, he 
would show all the world he did not care a pin for her." 
5 Upon which he flew out of the room, and never saw her 
more. 

Socrates, in Plato's Alcibiades, says he was informed 
by one who had traveled through Persia, that as he passed 
over a tract of lands, and inquired what the name of the 

10 place was, they told him it was the Queen's Girdle ; to 
which he adds that another wide field which lay by it, 
was called the Queen's Veil, and that in the same man- 
ner there was a large portion of ground set aside for 
every part of her majesty's dress. These lands might 

15 not be improperly called the Queen of Persia's Pin- 
money. 

I remember my friend Sir Roger, who I dare say 
never read this passage in Plato, told me some time since 
that upon his courting the perverse widow — of whom I 

20 have given an account in former papers — he had disposed 
of an hundred acres in a diamond-ring, which he would 
have presented her with, had she thought fit to accept it; 
and that upon her wedding-day she should have carried on 
her head fifty of the tallest oaks upon his estate. He fur- 

25 ther informed me that he would have given her a coal- 
pit to keep her in clean linen, that he would have allowed 
her the profits of a windmill for her fans, and have 
presented her, once in three years, with the shearing of 
his sheep for her under-petticoats. To which the knight 

30 always adds that though he did not care for fine clothes 
himself, there should not have been a woman in the coun- 
try better dressed than my Lady Coverley. Sir Roger 
perhaps may in this, as well as in many other of his 
devices, appear something odd and singular, but if the 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 117 

humor of pin-money prevails, I think it would be very- 
proper for every gentleman of an estate to mark out so 
many acres of it under the title of " The Pins." L. 



XXVII. SIR ROGER IN WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY 

[No. 329. Tuesday, March i8, 1712. Addison.] 

Ire tamen restat Numa quo devenit et Ancus. 

HOR. 

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley told me t'other night 
that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster 5 
Abbey, ** in w^hich," says he, *^ there are a great many 
ingenious fancies.'' He told me, at the same time, that 
he observed I . had promised another paper upon the 
tombs, and that he should be glad to go and see them 
vv^ith me, not having visited them since he had read his- 10 
tory. I could not at first imagine how this came into the 
knight's head, till I recollected that he had been very 
busy all last summer upon Baker's Chronicle, which he 
has quoted several times in his disputes with Sir Andrew 
Freeport since his last coming to town. Accordingly, 15 
I promised to call upon him the next morning, that we 
might go together to the Abbey. 

I found the knight under his butler's hands, who al- 
ways shaves him. He was no sooner dressed than he 
called for a glass of the Widow Trueby's water, which 20 
he told me he always drank before he went abroad. He 
recommended me to a dram of it at the same time with 
so much heartiness that I could not forbear drinking it. 
As soon as I had got it down, I found it very unpalatable; 



ii8 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

upon which the knight, observing that I had made several 
wry faces, told me that he knew I should not like it at 
first, but that it was the best thing in the world against 
the stone or gravel. I could have wished, indeed, that 
5 he had acquainted me w^ith the virtues of it sooner ; but 
It was too late to complain, and I knew what he had 
done w^as out of good-will. Sir Roger told me, further, 
that he looked upon it to be very good for a man, whilst 
he stayed in town, to keep off infection; and that he got 

10 together a quantity of it upon the first news of the sick- 
ness being at Dantzic. When, of a sudden, turning short 
to one of his servants, who stood behind him, he bid him 
call a hackney-coach, and take care it was an elderly man 
that drove it. 

15 He then resumed his discourse upon Mrs. Trueby's 
water, telling me that the Widow Trueby was one w^ho 
did more good than all the doctors and apothecaries in 
the county; that she distilled every poppy that grew 
within five miles of her; that she distributed her water 

20 gratis among all sorts of people. To which the knight 
added that she had a very great jointure, and that the 
whole country would fain have it a match between 
him and her. ''And truly," said Sir Roger, *' if I had 
not been engaged, perhaps I could not have done 

25 better.'' 

His discourse was broken off by his man's telling him 
he had called a coach. Upon our going to it, after hav- 
ing cast his eye upon the wheels, he asked the coachman 
if his axle-tree was good ; upon the fellow's telling him 

30 he would warrant it, the knight turned to me, told me he 
looked like an honest man, and wTnt in without further ; 
ceremony. 

We had not gone far when Sir Roger, popping out his! 
head, called the coachman down from his box, and upon] 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 119 

his presenting himself at the window, asked him if he 
smoked. As I was considering what this would end in, 
he bid him stop by the way at any good tobacconist's, 
and take in a roll of their best Virginia. Nothing mate- 
rial happened in the remaining part of our journey till we 5 
were set down at the west end of the Abbey. 

As we went up the body of the church, the knight 
pointed at the trophies upon one of the new monuments, 
and cried out, '*A brave man, I warrant him!" Passing 
afterwards by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, he flung his hand 10 
that way, and cried, ''Sir Cloudesley Shovel! a very gal- 
lant man! '' As we stood before Busby's tomb, the knight 
uttered himself again after the same manner: ''Dr. 
Busby — a great man ! he whipped my grandfather — a very 
great man! I should have gone to him myself if I had 15 
not been a blockhead — a very great man! " 

We were immediately conducted into the little chapel 
on the right hand. Sir Roger, planting himself at our 
historian's elbow, was very attentive to everything he 
said, particularly to the account he gave us of the lord 20 
who had cut off the King of Morocco's head. Among 
several other figures, he was very well pleased to see the 
statesman Cecil upon his knees; and, concluding them 
all to be great men, was conducted to the figure which 
represents that martyr to good housewifery who died by 25 
the prick of a needle. Upon our interpreter's telling us 
that she was a maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth, the 
knight was very inquisitive into her name and family ; and 
after having regarded her finger for some time, " I won- 
der," says he, "that Sir Richard Baker has said nothing 30 
of her in his Chronicle/' 

We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, 
where my old friend, after having heard that the stone 
underneath the most ancient of them, which was brought 



I20 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

from Scotland, was called Jacob's Pillar, sat himself down 
in the chair, and looking like the figure of an old Gothic 
king, asked our interpreter what authority they had to say 
that Jacob had ever been in Scotland. The fellow, in- 
5 stead of returning him an answer, told him that he hoped 
his honor would pay his forfeit. I could observe Sir || 
Roger a little ruffled upon being thus trepanned ; but, our 
guide not insisting upon his demand, the knight soon re- 
covered his good humor, and whispered in my ear that if 

10 Will Wimble were with us, and saw those two chairs, it 
would go hard but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of 
one or t'other of them. 

Sir Roger, in the next place, laid his hand upon Ed- 
ward the Third's sword, and leaning upon the pommel 

15 of it, gave us the whole history of the Black Prince; 11 
concluding that, in Sir Richard Baker's opinion, Edward 
the Third was one of the greatest princes that ever sat 
upon the English throne. 

We were then shown Edward the Confessor's tomb, 

20 upon which Sir Roger acquainted us that he was the first 
who touched for the evil; and afterwards Henry the 
Fourth's, upon which he shook his head and told us there 
was fine reading in the casualties of that reign. 

Our conductor then pointed to that monument where 

25 there is a figure of one of our English kings without an 
head; and upon giving us to know that the head, which 
was of beaten silver, had been stolen away several years 
since — ''Some Whig, I'll warrant you," says Sir Roger; 
'' you ought to lock up your kings better ; they will carry 

30 off the body too, if you don't take care." 

The glorious names of Henry the Fifth and Queen 
Elizabeth gave the knight great opportunities of shining 
and of doing justice to Sir Richard Baker, who, as our 
knight observed with some surprise, had a great many 



d 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 121 

kings in him whose monuments he had not seen in the 
Abbey. 

For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see the 
knight show such an honest passion for the glory of his 
country, and such a respectful gratitude to the memory of 5 
its princes. 

I must not omit that the benevolence of my good old 
friend, which flows out towards every one he converses 
with, made him very kind to our interpreter, whom he 
looked upon as an extraordinary man; for which reason 10 
he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him that he 
should be very glad to see him at his lodgings in Norfolk 
Buildings, and talk over these matters with him more at 
leisure. L. 

XXVIII. SIR ROGER UPON BEARDS 

[No. 331. Thursday, March 20, 1712. Budgell.] 

Stolidam praebet tibi vellere barbam. 

Pers. 

When I was last with my friend Sir Roger in West- 15 
minster Abbey, I observed that he stood longer than ordi- 
nary before the bust of a venerable old man. I was at a 
loss to guess the reason of it; when, after some time, he 
pointed to the figure, and asked me if I did not think that 
our forefathers looked much wiser in their beards than we 20 
do without them? ''For my part,'' says he, ''when I am 
walking in my gallery in the country, and see my ances- 
tors, who many of them died before they were of my age, 
I cannot forbear regarding them as so many old patriarchs, 
and, at the same time, looking upon myself as an idle 25 
smock-faced young fellow. I love to see your Abrahams, 
your Isaacs, and your Jacobs, as we have them in old pieces 



122 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

of tapestry, with beards below their girdles, that cover 
half the hangings/' The knight added, if I would recom- 
mend beards in one of my papers, and endeavor to restore 
human faces to their ancient dignity, that, upon a month's 
5 warning, he would undertake to lead up the fashion him- 
self in a pair of whiskers. 

I smiled at my friend's fancy; but after we parted, 
could not forbear reflecting on the metamorphosis our 
faces have undergone in this particular. 

10 The beard, conformable to the notion of my friend Sir 
Roger, was for many ages looked upon as the type of 
wisdom. Lucian more than once rallies the philosophers 
of his time, who endeavored to rival one another in 
beards; and represents a learned man who stood for a 

15 professorship in philosophy, as unqualified for it by the 
shortness of his beard. 

iElian, in his account of Zoilus, the pretended critic 
who wrote against Homer and Plato, and thought him- 
self wiser than all who had gone before him, tells us that 

20 this Zoilus had a very long beard that hung down upon 
his breast, but no hair upon his head, which he aWays kept 
close shaved, regarding, it seems, the hairs of his head 
as so many suckers, which, if they had been suffered to 
grow, might have drawn away the nourishment from his 

25 chin, and by that means have starved his beard. 

I have read somewhere that one of the popes refused to 
accept an edition of a saint's works, which were presented 
to him, because the saint, in his effigies before the book, 
was drawn without a beard. 

30 We see by these instances what homage the world has 

formerly paid to beards; and that a barber was not then 

allowed to make those depredations on the faces of the 

learned, which have been permitted him of late years. 

Accordingly several wise nations have been so extremely 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 123 

jealous of the least ruffle offered to their beards, that they 
seem to have fixed the point of honor principally in that 
part. The Spaniards were wonderfully tender in this par- 
ticular. Don Quevedo, in his third vision of the last 
judgment, has carried the humor very far when he tells 5 
us that one of his vainglorious countrymen, after having 
received sentence, was taken into custody by a couple of 
evil spirits; but that his guides happening to disorder his 
mustachios, they were forced to recompose them with a 
pair of curling-irons before they could get him to file off. 10 

If we look into the history of our own nation, we shall 
find that the beard flourished in the Saxon heptarchy, but 
was very much discouraged under the Norman line. It 
shot out, however, from time to time, in several reigns 
under different shapes. The last effort it made seems to 15 
have been in Queen Mary^s days, as the curious reader 
may find, if he pleases to peruse the figures of Cardinal 
Pole and Bishop Gardiner; though, at the same time, I 
think it may be questioned if zeal against popery has 
not induced our Protestant painters to extend the beards 20 
of these two persecutors beyond their natural dimensions, 
in order to make them appear the more terrible. 

I find but few beards worth taking notice of in the 
reign of King James the First. 

During the civil wars there appeared one, which makes 25 
too great a figure in story to be passed over in silence : I 
mean that of the redoubted Hudibras, an account of which 
Butler has transmitted to posterity in the following 
lines : — 

" His tawny beard was th' equal grace 30 

Both of his wisdom and his face; 

In cut and dye so like a tile 

A sudden view it would beguile; 

The upper part thereof was whey, 

The nether orange mixed with grey.'* 35 



124 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

The whisker continued for some time among us after 
the expiration of beards; but this is a subject which I 
shall not here enter upon, having discussed it at large in 
a distinct treatise, which I keep by me in manuscript, ^ 
5 upon the mustachio. |l 

If my friend Sir Roger's project of introducing beards 
should take effect, I fear the luxury of the present age 
would make it a very expensive fashion. There is no 
question but the beaux w^ould soon provide themselves 
10 with false ones of the lightest colors, and the most im- 
moderate lengths. A fair beard of the tapestry size,] 
which Sir Roger seems to approve, could not come under! 
twenty guineas. The famous golden beard of iEscu-] 
lapius would hardly be more valuable than one made in \ 
15 the extravagance of the fashion. 

Besides, we are not certain that the ladies would not 
come into the mode, when they take the air on horseback. 
They already appear in hats and feathers, coats, and peri- m\ 
wigs; and I see no reason why we may not suppose that 
20 they would have their riding-beards on the same occasion. 
N.B. I may give the moral of this discourse in an- 
other paper. X. 



XXIX. SIR ROGER AT THE PLAY 

[No. 335. Tuesday, March 25, 1712. Addison.] 

Respicere exemplar vitae morumque jubebo 
Doctum imitatorem, et vivas hinc ducere voces. 

HOR. 

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley, when we last met 

together at the club, told me that he had a great mind to 

25 see the new tragedy with me, assuring me at the same 

time that he had not been at a play these twenty years. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 125 

^'The last I saw," said Sir Roger, ''was the Committee, 
which I should not have gone to, neither, had not I been 
told beforehand that it was a good Church of England 
comedy." He then proceeded to inquire of me who this 
distressed mother was; and upon hearing that she was 5 
Hector^s widow, he told me that her husband was a brave 
man, and that when he was a school-boy he had read his 
life at the end of the dictionary. My friend asked me, 
in the next place, if there would not be some danger in 
coming home late, in case the Mohocks should be abroad. 10 
'' I assure you," says he, '' I thought I had fallen into their 
hands last night, for I observed two or three lusty black 
men that followed me half way up Fleet Street, and 
mended their pace behind me in proportion as I put on 
to get away from them. You must know," continued the 15 
knight, with a smile, '' I fancied they had a mind to hunt 
me, for I remember an honest gentleman in my neigh- 
borhood who was served such a trick in King Charles the 
Second's time ; for which reason he has not ventured him- 
self in town ever since. I might have shown them very 20 
good sport had this been their design ; for, as I am an old 
fox-hunter, I should have turned and dodged, and have 
played them a thousand tricks they had never seen in 
their lives before." Sir Roger added that if these gentle- 
men had any such intention they did not succeed very 25 
well in it; '' for I threw them out," says he, ''at the end 
of Norfolk Street, where I doubled the corner and got 
shelter in my lodgings before they could imagine what 
was become of me. However," says the knight, " if Cap- 
tain Sentry will make one with us to-morrow night, and 30 
if you will both of you call upon me about four o'clock, 
that we may be at the house before it is full, I will have 
my own coach in readiness to attend you, for John tells 
me he has got the forewheels mended." 



126 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

The captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the 
appointed hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he 
had put on the same sword which he made use of at the 
battle of Steenkirk. Sir Roger's servants, and among 
5 the rest mj' old friend the butler, had, I found, provided 
themselves with good oaken plants to attend their master 
upon this occasion. When he had placed him in his 
coach, with myself at his left hand, the captain before 
him, and his butler at the head of his footmen in the 
10 rear, we convoyed him in safety to the playhouse, w^here, 
after having marched up the entry in good order, the 
captain and I w^nt in with him, and seated him betwixt 
us in the pit. As soon as the house was full and the 
candles lighted, my old friend stood up and looked about 
15 him with that pleasure which a mind seasoned with hu- 
manity naturally feels in itself at the sight of a multitude 
of people who seem pleased with one another, and par- 
take of the same common entertainment. I could not 
but fancy to myself, as the old man stood up in the mid- 
20 die of the pit, that he made a very proper center to a 
tragic audience. Upon the entering of Pyrrhus, the 
knight told he that he did not believe the King of 
France himself had a better strut. I was, indeed, very 
attentive to my old friend's remarks, because I looked 
25 upon them as a piece of natural criticism ; and w^as well 
pleased to hear him, at the conclusion of almost every 
scene, telling me that he could not imagine how the play 
w^ould end. One while he appeared much concerned for 
Andromache, and a little while after as much for Her- 
30 mione ; and was extremely puzzled to think what would 
become of Pyrrhus. 

When Sir Roger saw Andromache's obstinate refusal 
to her lover's importunities, he whispered me in the ear 
that he was sure she would never have him; to which he 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 127 

added, with a more than ordinary vehemence, " You 
can't imagine, sir, what 'tis to have to do with a widow ! " 
Upon Pyrrhus his threatening afterwards to leave her, 
the knight shook his head, and muttered to himself, 
*'Ay, do if you can." This part dwelt so much upon 5 
my friend's imagination that at the close of the third 
act, as I was thinking of something else, he whispered 
in my ear, *' These widows, sir, are the most perverse 
creatures in the world. But pray," says he, ^^ you that 
are a critic, is the play according to your dramatic rules, 10 
as you call them? Should your people in tragedy al- 
w^ays talk to be understood? Why, there is not a single 
sentence in this play that I do not know the meaning of." 

The fourth act very luckily began before I had time to 
give the old gentleman an answer. " Well," says the 15 
knight, sitting down with great satisfaction, *' I suppose 
we are now to see Hector's ghost." He then renewed 
his attention, and, from time to time, fell a praising the 
widow. He made, indeed, a little mistake as to one of 
her pages, whom at his first entering he took for Astya- 20 
nax; but he quickly set himself right in that particular, 
though at the same time he owned he should have been 
very glad to have seen the little boy, " who," says he, 
'^ must needs be a very fine child by the account that is 
given of him." 25 

Upon Hermione's going off with a menace to Pyrrhus, 
the audience gave a loud clap, to which Sir Roger added, 
^' On my word, a notable young baggage! " 

As there was a very remarkable silence and stillness in 
the audience during the whole action, it was natural for 30 
them to take the opportunity of these intervals between 
the acts to express their opinion of the players and of 
their respective parts. Sir Roger, hearing a cluster of 
them praise Orestes, struck in with them, and told them 



128 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

that he thought his friend Pylades was a very sensible 
man; as they were afterwards applauding Pyrrhus, Sir 
Roger put in a second time: '^And let me tell you,'* 
says he, *' though he speaks but little, I like the old fellow 
5 in whiskers as well as any of them." Captain Sentry, 
seeing two or three wags who sat near us lean with an 
attentive ear towards Sir Roger, and fearing lest they 
should smoke the knight, plucked him by the elbow, 
and whispered something in his ear that lasted till the 

10 opening of the fifth act. The knight w^as wonderfully 
attentive to the account which Orestes gives of Pyrrhus 
his death, and, at the conclusion of it, told me it was such 
a bloody piece of work that he was glad it was not done- 
upon the stage. Seeing afterwards Orestes in his raving 

15 fit, he grew more than ordinary serious, and took occasion 
to moralize, in his way, upon an evil conscience, adding 
that Orestes in his madness looked as if he saw some- 
thing. 

As we were the first that came into the house, so we 

20 were the last that went out of it ; being resolved to have 
a clear passage for our old friend, whom we did not care 
to venture among the justling of the crowd. Sir Roger 
went out fully satisfied with his entertainment, and we 
guarded him to his lodgings in the same manner that we 

25 brought him to the playhouse, being highly pleased, for 
my own part, not only with the performance of the 
excellent piece which had been presented, but with the 
satisfaction which it had given to the good old man. 

L. 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 129 



XXX. WILL HONEYCOMB AND THE 
LADIES 

[No. 359. Tuesday, April 22, 1712. Budgell.] 

Torva leaena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam; 
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella. 

ViRG. 

As we were at the club last night, I observed that my 
friend Sir Roger, contrary to his usual custom, sat very 
silent, and instead of minding what was said by the com- 
pany, was whistling to himself in a very thoughtful mood, 
and playing with a cork. I jogged Sir Andrew Freeport 5 
who sat between us ; and as we were both observing him, 
we saw the knight shake his head and heard him say to 
himself, ^'A foolish woman! I can't believe it." Sir 
Andrew gave him a gentle pat upon the shoulder, and 
offered to lay him a bottle of wine that he was thinking 10 
of the widow. My old friend started, and, recovering 
out of his brown study, told Sir Andrew that once in his 
life he had been in the right. In short, after some little 
hesitation, Sir Roger told us, in the fullness of his heart, 
that he had just received a letter from his steward, which 15 
acquainted him that his old rival and antagonist in the 
county, Sir David Dundrum, had been making a visit to 
the widow. ^' However," says Sir Roger, ** I can never 
think that she'll have a man that's half a year older than 
I am, and a noted republican into the bargain." 20 

Will Honeycomb, who looks upon love as his particular 
province, interrupting our friend with a jaunty laugh, '' I 
thought, knight," says he, ''thou hadst lived long enough 
in the world not to pin thy happiness upon one that is a 
woman and a widow. I think that without vanity I may 25 



130 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

pretend to know as much of the female world as any man 
in Great Britain, though the chief of my knowledge con- 
sists in this — that they are not to be known." Will 
immediately, with his usual fluency, rambled into an 
5 account of his own amours. '* I am now," says he, 
'* upon the verge of fifty "—though, by the way, we all 
knew he was turned of threescore. ^* You may easily 
guess," continued Will, '' that I have not lived so long in 
the world without having had some thoughts of settling 

10 in it, as the phrase is. To tell you truly, I have several 
times tried my fortune that way, though I can't much 
boast of my success. 

'' I made my first addresses to a young lady in the 
country; but when I thought things were pretty well 

15 drawing to a conclusion, her father happening to hear 
that I had formerly boarded with a surgeon, the old put 
forbid me his house, and within a fortnight after married 
his daughter to a fox-hunter in the neighborhood. 

'' I made my next applications to a widow, and attacked 

20 her so briskly that I thought m3self within a fortnight of 
her. As I waited upon her one morning, she told me 
that she intended to keep her ready money and jointure 
in her own hand, and desired me to call upon her attor- 
ney in Lyon's Inn, w^ho w^ould adjust with me what it 

25 was proper for me to add to it. I was so rebuflPed by 
this overture that I never inquired either for her or her 
attorney afterwards. 

** A few months after, I addressed myself to a young 
lady who w^as an only daughter and of a good family; I 

30 danced with her at several balls, squeezed her by the 
hand, said soft things, and, in short, made no doubt 
of her heart; and, though my fortune was not equal to 
hers, I was in hopes that her fond father would not deny 
her the man she had fixed her affections upon. But, 



^! 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 131 

as I went one day to the house in order to break the mat- 
ter to him, I found the whole family in confusion, and 
heard, to my unspeakable surprise, that Miss Jenny was 
that very morning run away with the butler. 

*' I then courted a second widow, and am at a loss to 5 
this day how I came to miss her, for she had often com- 
mended my person and behavior. Her maid, indeed, 
told me one day that her mistress had said she never 
saw a gentleman with such a spindle pair of legs as Mr. 
Honeycomb. 10 

^' After this I laid siege to four heiresses successively, 
and being a handsome young dog in those days, quickly 
made a breach in their hearts; but I don't know how it 
came to pass, though I seldom failed of getting the daugh- 
ter's consent, I could never in my life get the old people 15 
on my side. 

" I could give you an account of a thousand other un- 
successful attempts, particularly of one which I made 
some years since upon an old woman, whom I had cer- 
tainly borne away with flying colors if her relations had 20 
not come pouring in to her assistance from all parts of 
England ; nay, I believe I should have got her at last, had 
not she been carried off by an hard frost." 

As Will's transitions are extremely quick, he turned 
from Sir Roger, and applying himself to me, told me 25 
there was a passage in the book I had considered last 
Saturday which deserved to be writ in letters of gold ; 
and taking out a pocket Milton, read the foUow^ing lines, 
which are part of one of Adam's speeches to Eve after 
the fall: 30 

" Oh ! why did our 
Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven 
With Spirits masculine, create at last 
This novelty on Earth, this fair defect 
Of Nature, and not fill the World at once 35 



132 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

With men as Angels, without feminine; 
Or find some other way to generate 
Mankind? This mischief had not then befallen, 
And more that shall befall — innumerable 
5 Disturbances on Earth through female snares, 

And straight conjunction with this sex. For either 
He never shall find out fit mate, but such 
As some misfortune brings him, or mistake; 
Or whom he wishes most shall seldom gain, 

10 Through her perverseness, but shall see her gained 

By a far worse, or, if she love, withheld 
By parents; or his happiest choice too late 
Shall meet, already linked and wedlock-bound 
To a fell adversary, his hate or shame; 

15 Which infinite calamity shall cause 

To human life, and household peace confound.'* 

Sir Roger listened to this passage with great attention, 

and desiring Mr. Honeycomb to fold down a leaf at the 

place and lend him his book, the knight put it up in his 

20 pocket, and told us that he would read over those verses 

again before he went to bed. X. 



XXXI. SIR ROGER AT VAUXHALL 

[No. 383. Tuesday, May 20, 1712. Addison.] 

Criminibus debent hortos. 

Juv. 

As I was sitting in my chamber and thinking on a sub- 
ject for my next Spectator, I heard two or three irregular 
bounces at my landlady's door, and upon the opening of 
25 it, a loud, cheerful voice inquiring whether the philoso- 
pher was at home. The child who went to the door 
answered very innocently that he did not lodge there. I 
immediately recollected that it was my good friend Sir 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 133 

Roger's voice, and that I had promised to go with him 
on the water to Spring Garden, in case it proved a good 
evening. The knight put me in mind of my promise 
from the bottom of the staircase, but told me that if I 
was speculating, he would stay below till I had done. 5 
Upon my coming down, I found all the children of the 
family got about my old friend, and my landlady herself, 
who is a notable prating gossip, engaged in a conference 
with him, being mightily pleased with his stroking her 
little boy upon the head, and bidding him be a good 10 
child and mind his book. 

We were no sooner come to the Temple Stairs but we 
were surrounded with a crowd of watermen, offering us 
their respective services. Sir Roger, after having looked 
about him very attentively, spied one with a wooden leg, 15 
and immediately gave him orders to get his boat ready. 
As we were walking towards it, "You must know," says 
Sir Roger, '' I never make use of anybody to row me that 
has not either lost a leg or an arm. I would rather bate 
him a few strokes of his oar than not employ an honest 20 
man that had been wounded in the Queen's service. If 
I was a lord or a bishop, and kept a barge, I would 
not put a fellow in my livery that had not a wooden 
leg." 

My old friend, after having seated himself and trimmed 25 
the boat with his coachman — who, being a very sober 
man, always serves for ballast on these occasions — , we 
made the best of our way for Fox-hall. Sir Roger 
obliged the waterman to give us the history of his right 
leg, and hearing that he had left it at La Hogue, with 30 
many particulars which passed in that glorious action, the 
knight, in the triuumph of his heart, made several reflec- 
tions on the greatness of the British nation ; as, that one 
Englishman could beat three Frenchmen ; that we couKl 



134 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

never be in danger of popery so long as we took care of 
our fleet; that the Thames was the noblest river in Eu- 
rope; that London Bridge was a greater piece of work 
than any of the seven wonders of the world; with many 
5 other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the 
heart of a true Englishman. 

After some short pause, the old knight, turning about 
his head twice or thrice to take a survey of this great 
metropolis, bid me observe how thick the city was set 

10 with churches, and that there was scarce a single steeple 
on this side Temple Bar. ^'A most heathenish sight!" 
says Sir Roger; ^' there is no religion at this end of the 
town. The fifty new churches will very much mend the 
prospect; but church work is slow, church work is 

15 slow! '' 

I do not remember I have anywhere mentioned, in 
Sir Roger^s character, his custom of saluting everybody 
that passes by him w^ith a good-morrow or a good-night. 
This the old man does out of the overflowings of his 

20 humanity, though at the same time it renders him so 
popular among all his country neighbors that it is thought 
to have gone a good way in making him once or twice 
knight of the shire. 

He cannot forbear this exercise of benevolence even in 

25 town, when he meets with any one in his morning or 
evening walk. It broke from him to several boats that 
passed by us upon the water; but to the knight's great 
surprise, as he gave the good-night to tw^o or three young 
fellows a little before our landing, one of them, instead 

30 of returning the civility, asked us what queer old put we 
had in the boat, with a great deal of the like Thames 
ribaldry. Sir Roger seemed a little shocked at first, but 
at length, assuming a face of magistracy, told us that if 
he were a Middlesex justice he would make such vagrants 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 135 

know that her Majesty's subjects were no more to be 
abused by water than by land. 

We were now arrived at Spring Garden, which is 
exquisitely pleasant at this time of year. When I con- 
sidered the fragrancy of the walks and bowers, with the 5 
choirs of birds that sung upon the trees, and the loose tribe 
of people that walked under their shades, I could not but 
look upon the place as a kind of Mahometan paradise. 
Sir Roger told me it put him in mind of a little coppice 
by his house in the country, which his chaplain used to 10 
call an aviary of nightingales. '' You must understand," 
says the knight, " there is nothing in the world that pleases 
a man in love so much as your nightingale. Ah, Mr. 
Spectator! the many moonlight nights that I have walked 
by myself and thought on the widow by the music of the 15 
nightingales!" He here fetched a deep sigh, and was 
falling into a fit of musing, when a mask, who came 
behind him, gave him a gentle tap upon the shoulder, 
and asked him if he would drink a bottle of mead with 
her. But the knight, being startled at so unexpected a 20 
familiarity, and displeased to be interrupted in his thoughts 
of the widow, told her she was a wanton baggage, and 
bid her go about her business. 

We concluded our walk with a glass of Burton ale and 
a slice of hung beef. When we had done eating, our- 25 
selves, the knight called a waiter to him and bid him 
carry the remainder to the waterman that had but one 
leg. I perceived the fellow stared upon him at the odd- 
ness of the message, and was going to be saucy; upon 
which I ratified the knight's commands with a peremp- 30 
tory look. 

As we were going out of the garden, my old friend, 
thinking himself obliged as a member of the quorum to 
animadvert upon the morals of the place, told the mis- 



136 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

tress of the house, who sat at the bar, that he should be 
a better customer to her garden if there were more 
nightingales and fewer strumpets. I. 

XXXII. DEATH OF SIR ROGER 

[No. 517. Thursday, October 23, 1712. Addison.] 
Heu pietas! heu prisca fides! 

VlRG. 

We last night received a piece of ill news at our club 

5 which very sensibly afflicted every one of us. I question 
not but my readers themselves will be troubled at the 
hearing of it. To keep them no longer in suspense — Sir 
Roger de Coverley is dead. He departed this life at his 
house in the country, after a few weeks' sickness. Sir 

10 Andrew Freeport has a letter from one of his correspond- 
ents in those parts, that informs him the old man caught 
a cold at the county sessions, as he was very warmly 
promoting an address of his own penning, in which he 
succeeded according to his wishes. But this particular 

15 comes from a Whig justice of peace, who was always Sir 
Roger's enemy and antagonist. I have letters both from 
the chaplain and Captain Sentry which mention nothing 
of it, but are filled with many particulars to the honor of 
the good old man. I have likewise a letter from the 

20 butler, who took so much care of me last summer w^hen 
I was at the knight's house. As my friend the butler 
mentions, in the simplicity of his heart, several circum- 
stances the others have passed over in silence, I shall 
give my reader a copy of his letter without any altera- 

25tion or diminution. 

" Honored Sir, 

Knowing that you was my old master's 8;ood friend, T 
could not forbear sending you the melancholy news of his 



The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 137 

death, which has afflicted the whole country, as well as his 
poor servants, who loved him, I may say, better than we did 
our lives. I am afraid he caught his death the last county 
sessions, where he would go to see justice done to a poor 
widow woman and her fatherless children, that had been 5 
wronged by a neighboring gentleman ; for you know, sir, my 
good master was always the poor man's friend. Upon his 
coming home, the first complaint he made was that he had 
lost his roast beef stomach, not being able to touch a sirloin, 
which was served up according to custom; and you know he lO 
used to take great delight in it. From that time forward he 
grew worse and worse, but still kept a good heart to the last. 
Indeed, we were once in great hope of his recovery, upon a 
kind message that was sent him from the widow lady whom 
he had made love to the forty last years of his life; but this 15 
only proved a light'ning before death. He has bequeathed to 
this lady, as a token of his love, a great pearl necklace, and 
a couple of silver bracelets set with jewels, which belonged 
to my good old lady his mother. He has bequeathed the fine 
white gelding, that he used to ride a hunting upon, to his 20 
chaplain, because he thought he would be kind to him, and has 
left you all his books. He has, moreover, bequeathed to the 
chaplain a very pretty tenement with good lands about it. It 
being a very cold day when he made his will, he left for 
mourning to every man in the parish a great frieze coat, 25 
and to every woman a black riding-hood. It was a most 
moving sight to see him take leave of his poor servants, com- 
mending us all for our fidelity, whilst we were not able to 
speak a word for weeping. As we most of us are grown 
gray-headed in our dear master's service, he has left us 30 
pensions and legacies, which we may live very comfortably 
upon the remaining part of our days. He has bequeathed a 
great deal more in charity, which is not yet come to my 
knowledge, and it is peremptorily said in the parish that he 
has left money to build a steeple to the church; for he was 35 
heard to say some time ago that if he lived two years longer, 
Coverley Church should have a steeple to it. The chaplain 
tells everybody that he made a very good end, and never 
speaks of him without tears. He was buried according to his 
own directions among the family of the Coverleys, on the 40 
left hand of his father, Sir Arthur. The coffin was carried 
by six of his tenants, and the pall held up by six of 



138 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

the quorum. The whole parish followed the corpse with heavy 
hearts, and in their mourning suits, the men in frieze, and the 
women in riding-hoods. Captain Sentry, my master's nephew, 
has taken possession of the hall house and the whole estate. 
5 When my old master saw him a little before his death, he 
shook him by the hand, and wished him joy of the estate which 
was falling to him, desiring him only to make good use of 
it, and to pay the several legacies, and the gifts of charity 
which he told him he had left as quit-rents upon the estate. The 

10 captain truly seems a courteous man, though he says but little. 
He makes much of those whom my master loved, and shows 
great kindness to the old house dog, that you know my poor 
master was so fond of. It would have gone to your heart to 
have heard the moans the dumb creature made on the day of 

15 my master's death. He has ne'er joyed himself since; no more 
has any of us. 'Twas the melancholiest day for the poor 
people that ever happend in Worcestershire. This being all 
from. 

Honored sir, your most sorrowful servant, 

20 Edward Biscuit." 

" P. S. My master desired, some weeks before he died, that 
a book which comes up to you by the carrier should be given 
to Sir Andrew Freeport in his name." 

This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner 
25 of writing it, gave us such an idea of our good old friend, 
that upon the reading of it there w^as not a dry eye in 
the club. Sir Andrew, opening the book, found it to be 
a collection of Acts of Parliament. There w^as in par- 
ticular the Act of Uniformity, with some passages in it 
30 marked by Sir Roger's own hand. Sir Andrew found 
that they related to two or three points which he had 
disputed with Sir Roger the last time he appeared at the 
club. Sir Andrew, who would have been merry at such 
an incident on another occasion, at the sight of the old 
35 man's handwriting burst into tears, and put the book 
into his pocket. Captain Sentry informs me that the 
knight has left rings and mourning for every one in the 
club. O. 



NOTES AND COMMENT 



NOTES AND COMMENT 

[Heavy numerals refer to page; light ones to line] 

I. MR. SPECTATOR 

In this first Sir Roger de Coverley paper, Addison introduces 
Mr. Spectator to the reader. In his representation of that gen- 
tleman, Addison frequently appears to be drawing a portrait 
of himself. Mr. Spectator's bashfulness, his love of reading 
and of foreign travel, his distaste for party controversy, and 
his character as a disinterested observer of mankind are all 
traits that belong equally to Addison. It is not possible, how- 
ever, to press these resemblances to a point of complete identi- 
fication between the two. It is only in inward traits of tem- 
perament that they resemble one another; in outward circum- 
stances of life they differ. Thus Addison was not, like Mr. 
Spectator, "born to a small hereditary estate" (3, 13); his 
father had never been "justice of the peace" (4, 2-3) ; nor had 
he ever visited Egypt (5, 1-2). Moreover it is a significant 
fact that Mr. Spectator never " gratifies the curiosity " of the 
reader with regard to his complexion, disposition, or state as 
a married or single man (3, 3-4), and never divulges his 
"name," "age," and "lodgings" (6, 30). By thus allowing 
Mr. Spectator only a partial likeness to himself, Addison has 
succeeded admirably in imparting to that gentleman the mys- 
tery proper to an imaginary person. 
(Motto). "One with a flash begins and ends in smoke; 
Another out of smoke brings glorious light, 
And (without raising expectation high) 
Surprises us with dazzling miracles." — 

Horace, Ars Poetica, verses 143-144. 
3, 3. Black: of dark complexion. 

3, 9. The several persons are, of course, the several mem- 
bers of Mr. Spectator's Club; viz., Mr. Spectator himself, de- 
scribed in the present paper, and the remaining members of 
the club, described in the next paper. 

141 



I 



142 Notes and Comment 

4, 2. Depending: pending. 

4, 14. Nonage = " non " (Latin) +'' age." 

4, 22. Whole life: a humorous exaggeration of Addison's 
own characteristic reticence. ^ 

5, 2-3. Pyramid. Addison never traveled beyond Italy. ■! 
He is here probably referring to a book by the mathematician 
John Greaves (1602-1652), entitled Pyramidographia or a Dis- 
course of the Pyramids of Egypt (1646). In it the author 
published certain measurements of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh 
which were called in question by subsequent scientists. It is 
apparently in playful allusion to this difference of opinion that 
Addison represents Mr. Spectator as undertaking a special trip 

to Egypt to satisfy his curiosity on the merits of the con- 
troversy. 

5, 9. Place of general resort. The reference is to the 
coffee-houses, which played a very important part in the social 
life of eighteenth-century London. The coffee-house was a very 
democratic institution, being frequented by all classes of society 
from nobles to highwaymen. There for the price of one penny 
one might get a cup of coffee and sit as long as one chose 
before an open fire. The coffee-house, like the European cafe 
of to-day, was used as a place to meet congenial acquaintances, 
to exchange the gossip of the hour, to read the news, and to 
write and receive letters. In coffee-houses of the better class 
good order was rigidly enforced, no drink stronger than coffee 
being served, gambling being forbidden, and swearing and 
quarreling being punished by fines. Each coffee-house was fre- 
quented by a more or less distinct class of patrons and accord- 
ingly came to possess a more or less distinctive character of its 
own. Thus, of the six coffee-houses mentioned in the text, Will's 
was the resort of men of letters, Child's of the clergy, the 
Grecian of lawyers, St. James's of Whig politicians, the Cocoa 
Tree a chocolate house, of Tory politicians, and Jonathan's of 
stock-jobbers. 

5, 15. The Postman: a London newspaper issued three 
times a week by a French Protestant named Fonvive. 

5, 21. Drury Lane and the Haymarket: the two principal 
theaters of London in Queen Anne's day. 

5, 26. But in my own club. Addison was likewise in the 
habit of restricting his conversation to a small circle of 
intimate acquaintances, whom he met in a coffee-house called 
Button's. 



II 




Notes and Comment 143 

6, I. Blots: men, in backgammon, left uncovered and so 
liable to capture. 

6, 3-4. Neutrality between the Whigs and Tories. Addi- 
son was extremely anxious to keep the Spectator out of politics. 
In Spectator No. i6 he writes: ''As I am very sensible my 
paper would lose its whole effect, should it run out into the 
outrages of a party, I shall take care to keep clear of every- 
thing which looks that way." 

6, 17. Print myself out: to put my ideas in print, not to 
print myself out of ideas. 

6, 21. A sheetful of thoughts every morning: a literal 
description of the Spectator, which consisted of a single sheet 
and appeared every morning except Sunday. 

6, 27-28. Points . . . spoken to. We still say ** speak to 
the point." 

7, 9. Discoveries: disclosures. 

7, 14-15. Concerted ... in a club. Addison here probably 
has in mind the fact of his own association with Steele, 
Budgell, and others in the conduct of the Spectator. 

7, 17. Correspond with me. A considerable number of the 
letters published throughout the Spectator are from real per- 
sons. In Spectator No. 542 Addison acknowledges his indebted- 
ness to these correspondents. 

7, 18. Mr. Buckley's. Mr. Samuel Buckley, editor of the 
first London ** daily," entitled the Daily Courant, published the 
Spectator. The first 448 numbers he published alone ; the re- 
maining numbers he published in connection with Jacob Tonson. 

7, 19. Little Britain: a section in the center of London, so 
called because formerly the residence of the Dukes of Brittany. 
Prior to the eighteenth century, Little Britain had been a favor- 
ite resort of book-sellers. See the chapter entitled " Little 
Britain " in Irving's Sketch Book, edited for this series by A. E. 
Leonard, pages 225-242. 

7, 23. C. Each of the chief contributors to the Spectator 
signed his papers with some particular letter. Addison employed 
for this purpose one of the letters of the word Clio (the Muse 
of History); Steele, an R. or a T. ; and Budgell, an X. In 
Spectator No. 221 Addison gives a delightfully whimsical ac- 
count of these " single capital letters " placed at the end of 
each paper. 



144 Notes and Comment 



Questions 



l! 



1. In what respects does Mr. Spectator resemble Addison 
and in what respects does he differ from him? 

2. What personal traits of Mr. Spectator does Addison refuse 
to divulge and why? 

3. Why should not Addison make Mr. Spectator like himself ■] 
in all respects or else in none? *' 

4. Should you judge that a contemporary reader would have 
been able to recognize Addison's likeness in this portrait of 
Mr. Spectator? 



II. THE CLUB 

In this second paper, Steele supplies sketches of Mr. Spec- 
tator's club associates. Each of these men represents a distinct 
class of society. Sir Roger de Coverley, the first and foremost 
of the group, represents the landed aristocracy; the Templar, 
the law; Sir Andrew Freeport, trade; Captain Sentry, the 
army; Will Honeycomb, polite society; and a certain nameless 
gentleman, the church. As the representative of a particular 
class, each of these members of Mr. Spectator's club shares 
with other members of his class certain common characteristics 
which mark him as a member of that class. But in addition 
to these class characteristics, each of Mr. Spectator's club asso- 
ciates possesses certain personal traits that distinguish him as 
an individual from other members of his class. Thus, Sir 
Roger de Coverley is, according to class, a country squire but, 
as an individual, he is represented as a disappointed lover 
(8, 13), who has acquired in consequence certain amiable 
eccentricities that set him apart from other country squires; 
the Templar is a lawyer only by parental compulsion; per- 
sonally he is more interested in ''the passions themselves" 
than in "the debates which arise from them" (9, 18-20); Sir 
Andrew is distinguished from other members of the merchant 
class by being a " trader " not only of merchandise but also 
of "good sense" (10, 22); Captain Sentry differs from his 
fellow soldiers by the possession of an "invincible modesty" 
(10, 34) ; Will Honeycomb is by profession a devotee of 
society but is endowed by nature with a certain frank ingenu- 
ousness that lifts him above the ordinary man of fashion; 
and, finally, the clergyman, though by profession a servant 



I 



I 



Notes and Comment 145 

of the church, is by nature a man distinguished above the 
ordinary clergy of Addison's day by " general learning, great 
sanctity of life, and the most exact good breeding" (13, 11-12). 
By thus adding to his characters these individualizing traits, 
Steele has invested these men with a lifelikeness which has 
led certain critics to believe that he used as his models actual 
men of the day. But since the resemblances which these critics 
have been able to point out between Mr. Spectator's club asso- 
ciates and persons then living — like that between Mr. Spectator 
and Addison — are but partial, and since, moreover, both Steele 
and Addison emphatically disclaim any intention of dealing 
with actual personalities, it is safe to conclude that, with the 
exception of an occasional hint from real life, these portraits — 
like all true art — are essentially imaginary. 
(Motto). 

"Six more, at least, join their consenting voice." — 

Juvenal, Satire VII , verses 166-167. 

7, 25-26. Sir Roger de Coverley: A name borrowed by 
Steele, at the suggestion of Swift, from a popular dance tune 
of the day called Sir Roger a Calverley. The dance tune was 
not, therefore, named after the ancestor of Sir Roger, but Sir 
Roger's ancestor was named after the dance tune. 

8, I. Country-dance: a dance in which men and women 
face one another in two opposite rows, as in our Virginia 
reel. 

8, 7. Humor: peculiarity. 

8, II. Soho Square: a fashionable quarter of London in 
Queen Anne's day. In two later papers (121, 12-13, and 125, 
27-28) Addison places Sir Roger's lodgings in Norfolk St.; and 
in Spectator No. 410 Tickell places then in Bond St., Covent 
Garden. These inconsistencies are due, of course, to a lack of 
careful collaboration on the part of the various contributors to 
the Spectator. 

8, 16. Lord Rochester and Sir George Etherege. John 
Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680), and Sir George Etherege 
(1635-1691) were brilliant but dissolute wits of the reign of 
Charles II. 

8, 17-18. Bully Dawson: a ** swaggering sharper" of the 
same period. 

8, 34. Upstairs to a visit: as he goes upstairs to pay a 
visit. 

9, I. Justice of the quorum: justice of the peace. 



146 Notes and Comment 

9, 2. Quarter session: a criminal court held in each county 
once a quarter by justices of the peace. See note to 75, 7. 

9, 4. Game Act: an Act very difficult to explain because 
couched in very obscure language. 

9, 6-7. The Inner Temple: one of four legal societies known 
as the Inns of Court, which still exist in the London of to-day. 
The Inns of Court are so called because they originally pro- 
vided board and lodgings for their pupils. The other three 
are the Middle Temple, Gray's Inn, and Lincoln's Inn. The 
Inner and the Middle Temple are so named because they 
occupy land which formerly belonged to the Knights Templars, 
a military order dissolved in the fourteenth century. 

9, 12-13. Aristotle and Longinus. The Greek philosopher 
Aristotle (b. c. 384-322) wrote two treatises on literary criti- 
cism — the Rhetoric and the Poetics; the Greek literary critic 
Longinus (213-273) is the reputed author of a famous treatise 
On the Sublime. 

9, 13-14. Littleton or Coke. Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) 
wrote an enlargement of a famous treatise on English real 
estate by Sir Thomas Littleton (1407-1481). This enlargement 
is commonly known as Coke upon Littleton. 

9, 21. Demosthenes and Tully. Demosthenes (b. c. 384- 
322) and Marcus Tullius Cicero (b. c. 106-43) were the two 
chief orators of Greece and Rome respectively. Formerly 
"Tully'* was a common abbreviation of Marcus Tullius 
Cicero. 

9, 33. At five. In Steele's day the play began between five 
and six. The Templar starts from his lodgings in the Inner 
Temple, passes through the gardens of New Inn, crosses the 
Strand, passes through the open square known as Russell's 
Court, pauses at Will's Coffee-house for refreshment, has his 
shoes rubbed and his periwig powdered at the barber's as you 
go into the Rose Tavern, and then enters Drury Lane Theater, 
which stood close by. 

10, 5-6. Sir Andrew Freeport. The name " Freeport " in- 
dicates that Sir Andrew is a free-trader. The invention of 
names that reveal the character or profession of the bearer is 
a common practice among eighteenth-century authors. 

10, 21-22. "A penny saved is a penny got" may have 
suggested the phrase " A penny saved is a penny earned," w^hich 
occurs in Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac. In his 



Notes and Comment 147 

Autobiography, edited for this series by Frank W. Pine, pages 
15-16, Franklin acknowledges that he was a diligent reader of 
the Spectator. 

10, 31. Owner. This enthusiastic description of Sir An- 
drew's business abilities reveals Steele's pronounced Whig sym- 
pathies. The large and prosperous merchant class of the city 
belonged almost exclusively to the Whig party, whereas the 
landed aristocracy of the country was largely Tory. 

11, 6. Next heir to Sir Roger. Captain Sentry afterwards 
inherits Sir Roger's estate. See introductory comment to No. 
XXXII. 

11, 18-19. Disposing: dispensing rewards. 

12, 4. Humorists: odd, eccentric fellows. 

12, 14. Habits: styles of dress. We still say "riding-habit." 

12, 16. Mode: fashion. 

12, 22. Female world. The extravagance of contemporary 
fashion in feminine dress is a constant subject of satire in the 
Spectator. In Spectator No. 69 Addison writes: "The single 
dress of a woman of quality is often the product of an hundred 
climates. The muff and the fan come together from the differ- 
ent ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone 
and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat 
arises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out 
of the bowels of Indostan." 

12, 23. Take notice to you: call to your attention. 

12, 24-25. Duke of Monmouth. The Duke of Monmouth 
(1649-1685) claimed to be the son of Charles II, and on that 
pretext made an attempt to deprive James II of the British 
throne. He was defeated by James II and executed on Tower 
Hill. Monmouth was a young man of pleasing manners and 
engaging personality. 

12, 27. Relations: recitals. 

12, 27. The Park: Hyde Park, the largest and most fash- 
ionable park in London. 

13, 26. R. One of Steele's signatures. See note to 7, 23. 

Questions 

I. Distinguish between the class characteristics and the in- 
dividual characteristics of the members of Mr. Spectator's club. 



148 Notes and Comment 

2. What different classes of society are represented by the 
several members of the club and what are the class character- 
istics of each member? 

3. What members of the club bear names that indicate the 
class to which they belong? 

4. What are the individual characteristics of each member? 



III. MR. SPECTATOR AT HIS CLUB 

The present paper, together with the two preceding, serves 
as a general introduction to the Sir Roger de Coverley series. 
In the first paper Addison introduces Mr. Spectator, in the 
second Steele follows with a sketch of the several members of 
Mr. Spectator's club, and now Addison completes this little 
preliminary group by introducing Mr. Spectator in the company 
of his club associates. 

(Motto). 

" From spotted skins the leopard does refrain." — 

Juvenal, Satire XV, verses 156-160. 

14, 23-24. The opera and the puppet-show. In preceding 
papers of the Spectator, Addison had criticised Italian opera, 
a fashionable entertainment recently introduced upon the Lon- 
don stage. Perhaps as a result of the ill-success of his own 
opera Rosamond, he remarks that " nothing is fit to be set to 
music that is not nonsense," and repeatedly ridicules the un- 
natural medley of English and Italian words heard at these 
performances. Towards the puppet — or Punch and Judy — 
show, which, as a domestic and less pretentious form of amuse- 
ment, would naturally appeal more strongly to a sensible 
Englishman, he is more lenient, basing his strictures mainly 
upon the diminished popularity of church-going since Mr. 
Powell has set up his puppet-show in the immediate neighbor- 
hood of St. Paul's Church. For Addison's comments on the 
opera, see Spectator Nos. 5, 13, 14, and 18, and upon the puppet- 
show. No. 14. 

15, I. Dress and equipage of persons of quality. In 
Spectator No. 15 Addison had expressed his disapproval of " a 
coach adorned with gilded cupids," and in No. 16 had pro- 
tested against *' silver garters," " fringed gloves," " top-knots," 
and other fashionable fopperies. 

15, 5. The city — as contrasted with ** the whole city" (15, 



Notes and Comment 149 

7) — IS used in a technical sense to denote that part of London 
devoted primarily to business — the part, that is, which centers 
about the Bank of England and which would naturally be of 
chief interest to a merchant such as Sir Andrew. 

15, 12. Aldermen and citizens. Since Addison had not 
attacked the citizen class, it is probable that these words are 
intended as a warning, not as a rebuke. 

15, 18. The wits of King Charles's time: the authors of the 
reign of Charles II, particularly the comic dramatists, such as 
Congreve, Farquhar, Vanbrugh, and Wycherley, who delighted 
to picture the follies of citizens and their wives. 

15, 20. Horace, Juvenal, Boileau. Quintus Horatius Flac- 
cus (b. c. 65-8) and Decimus Junius Juvenalis (a. d. 60-140) 
were famous Roman satirists; Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux 
(1637-1711) was a famous French satirist. 

15, 26. Several persons of the Inns of Court. Addison 
had ridiculed the lawyer class in Spectator No. 21. 

16, 4-5. Mention foxhunters with so little respect. There 
is no ground for Sir Roger's complaint. Addison has not only 
made no derogatory reference to foxhunters thus far but after- 
wards gives, in the Freeholder No. 22, a charming picture of 
that class. Steele, to be sure, makes a disparaging allusion to 
foxhunters in Spectator No. 474; but since that paper had not 
yet been written, it can have no bearing upon the present 
passage. 

17, 19. The Roman triumvirate: Octavlus, Antony, and 
Lepidus. Their debate is recorded by Plutarch in his Life of 
Mark Antony, edited by Skeat, page 169, and by Shakespeare 
in Julius Casar, Act IV, scene i. 

17, 29-30. If Punch grows extravagant. The reference is 
to Punch as played by a certain hunchback dwarf named Robert 
Powell, whose language appears to have been somewhat free. 
See Tatler No. 16. 

Questions 

1. State in your own words the doctrine which Addison seeks 
to teach in this paper. 

2. In what way is the behavior of the several members of 
Mr. Spectator's club used to demonstrate the necessity for such 
a doctrine? 



150 Notes and Comment 

3. What is the particular applicability of the Roman fable 
to the situation that arises in Mr. Spectator's club? 

4. Is there anything particularly appropriate in the selection] 
of the clergyman as peacemaker in the dispute? 



IV. A LADY'S LIBRARY 

Strictly speaking, the present paper should not be included 
in the Sir Roger de Co'verley series, for, with the exception of 
a casual reference to Sir Roger at the opening, the paper has 
nothing whatever to do either with that gentleman or with any 
other member of Mr. Spectator's club. It is included in the 
series because it represents that large and important portion 
of the Spectator in which Steele and Addison, abandoning al- 
together their original design of representing Mr. Spectator as 
the member of a club, allow that gentleman to discuss, without 
the aid of his club associates, a large variety of subjects which 
could not well be brought within the compass of that design. 
Among these subjects none was of greater interest to Addison 
than that of female affections; and the present paper affords 
an excellent example of the deliciously humorous manner in 
which he treats this general theme. 

(Motto). 

" Unbred to spinning, in the loom unskill'd." — 

Virgil, Aeneid, book VII, verses 805-806. 

18, 22. Jars of china. A craze for collecting china was 
then at its height. See Steele in Tatler No. 23, and Addison in 
Spectator No. 299. 

19, II. Scaramouches: miniature figures of clowns. Scara- . 
muccia was the name of an Italian buffoon of the seventeenth 
century. 

19, II. Mandarins: diminutive figures of Chinese officials 
in ceremonial dress. 

19, 14. Snuffbox. The taking of snuff was then a novelty. 
The learned lady of Addison's day was, therefore, as much 
" advanced " as her sister of to-day. In Spectator No. 344. 
Steele describes a lady who takes snuff at meals and another 
who takes it in the middle of a sermon. We may be permitted 
to suppose that these were also "reading" ladies. 

19, 18. Fagots: dummy soldiers or persons hired to take the 
place of real soldiers at the muster of a regiment. 



Notes and Comment 151 

19, 26-27. Heard them praised or . . . seen the authors 
of them: a delightful bit of irony based upon the natural 
tendency of women to buy books for purely sentimental reasons. 

19, 29. Ogilby's Virgil. The first complete English transla- 
tion of Virgil was that made by John Ogilby in 1649-1650. It 
was poor as a translation but beautifully illustrated. 

19, 30. Dryden's Juvenal. The satires of the Roman poet 
Juvenal were translated by John Dryden in 1693. 

i9» 31-33- Cassandra, Cleopatra, Astraea: long-winded 
French romances of the typically sentimental variety then in 
fashion among ladies of quality. The first two were by La 
Calprenede (1610-1663) and the last by Honore D'Urfe (1568- 
1625). It is needless to add that Leonora read these authors 
likewise only in an English translation. 

20, I. The Grand Cyrus; a romance of the same type as 
the preceding, written by Mademoiselle de Scudery (1607- 
1701). 

20, 3. Pembroke's Arcadia: a romance written by Sir 
Philip Sidney in 1580-1581, and published after his death by his 
sister, the Countess of Pembroke, to whom it was dedicated. 

20, 4. Locke of Human Understanding: an Essay on the 
Human Understanding by the famous philosopher, John Locke 
(1632-1704). It would be a safe guess that this book was not 
among the "few which the lady had bought for her own use." 

20, 8. Sherlock upon Death: a Practical Discourse concern- 
ing Death by William Sherlock (1641-1707). 

20, 9. The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: an English 
version of Les Quinze Joies de Mariage, a clever satire on 
women, written in 1450 by Antoine de La Salle. 

20, 10. Sir William Temple. The Essays of this polished 
but conventional writer were published in 1692. 

20, II. Father Malebranche's Search after Truth: an 
English version of La Recherche de la Verite, written in 1674 
by the French philosopher, Nicholas Malebranche. 

20, 14. The Academy of Compliments:, an anonymous 
collection of guides to behavior. 

20, 15. Culpepper's Midwivery: the Complete Midivife's 
Practice by Nicholas Culpepper (1616-1654). 

20, 16. The Ladies' Calling: a companion volume to the 
Whole Duty of Man. Both were popular religious manuals of 
the seventeenth century. 

20, 17. Tales in Verse by Mr. D'Urfey: Tales, Tragical 



152 Notes and Comment 

and Comical J written in 1704 by Thomas D'Urfey, poet and 
playwright. 

20, 20. A Set of Elzevirs by the same hand: a set of 
books issued from the press of a famous seventeenth-century 
Dutch family of printers named Elzevir, and bound by the hand 
of the carpenter that did '' the classic authors in wood " men- 
tioned in the preceding line. 

20, 21. Clelia: another romance by Mademoiselle de Scudery 
See note to 20, i. 

20, 23. Baker's Chronicle: a dull chronicle of the kings 
of England by Sir Richard Baker (1568-1645). Sir Roger de 
Coverley is constantly quoting Baker's Chronicle. See 11 1, 30; 
117, 13; and 119, 30. 

20, 24. Advice to a Daughter: the Lady's Neiv Year's Gift 
or Ad'vice to a Daughter, by George Savile, Marquis of Hali- 
fax (1633-1695). 

20, 25. The New Atlantis, with a key to it: A scandalous 
romance by the notorious Mrs. Manley, in which Steele and 
other prominent Whigs were attacked under fictitious names. 
Hence the need of a key to it. The romance was published in 
1709. 

20, 26. Mr. Steele's Christian Hero. See Introduction, 
page X. 

20, 27. Hungary water: a perfume, not a beverage. 

20, 29. Dr. Sacheverell's Speech: a speech which Henry 
Sacheverell, a noted Tory divine, delivered in his own de- 
fense when impeached in 1710 before the House of Lords for 
preaching two violent sermons against the Whigs. Dr. Sachev- 
erelTs conviction at the hands of the Whig leaders made him 
a martyr in the eyes of the nation and helped to bring about 
the downfall of the Whig ministry later in the same year. 

20, 30. Fielding's Trial: an account of the trial of a cer- 
tain Robert Fielding, charged with bigamy. 

20, 31. Seneca's Morals: an English translation of the 
Moral Essays of the Roman philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca 
(b. c. 3— a. d. 65). 

20, 32. Taylor's Holy Living and Dying. The Rule and 
Exercises of Holy Living (1650) and the Rule and Exercises of 
Holy Dying (1651) are the titles of two devotional treatises 
composed by the noted English divine, Jeremy Taylor. 

20, 33. La Ferte's Instructions for Country Dances. 
La Ferte was a fashionable dancing-master of the day. 



Notes and Comment 153 

21, 5. Hate long speeches. Observe how consistently Mr. 
Spectator maintains his character as a silent gentleman. Com- 
pare note to 4, 22. 

21, 21. Particular: peculiar, odd. 

21, 30. Turtles: turtle-doves. 

22, 8. Consort: concert. 

22, 24. I design to recommend such particular books: 
a promise never fulfilled by Mr. Spectator. 

22, 27. Their thoughts upon it. These thoughts are pub- 
lished in Spectator No. 92. 

Questions 

1. In the preceding paper the clergyman suggested to Mr. 
Spectator that he might make his paper of great use to the 
public *' by reprehending those vices that are too trivial for 
the chastisement of the law and too fantastic for the cognisance 
of the pulpit." Does Mr. Spectator act upon this suggestion in 
the present paper? 

2. What various subjects are represented by the books in Leo- 
nora's library? Should you judge that these subjects covered the 
range of reading of the average cultivated person of Addison's 
day? 

3. How many of the books in the library do you think that 
Leonora had purchased " for her own use" and how many 
*' because she had heard them praised or seen the authors of 
them " ? 

4. In what languages were the foreign books in Leonora's 
collection written? Were these foreign languages read by edu- 
cated people in Addison's day? If so, what inference would you 
draw from the fact that Leonora could read them only in 
translation? 

5. What articles of a strictly feminine character does Mr. 
Spectator find in certain books in Leonora's library? Should you 
judge from the use made of these articles that Leonora was a 
serious reader or not? 

6. Are you acquainted with any modern Leonoras? 

V. PEDANTRY 

The present paper is as little concerned with Sir Roger de 
Coverley as the preceding. It is included in the present series 



154 Notes and Comment 

because it serves to illustrate Addison's treatment of another 
favorite topic of his in the Spectator, that of good breeding. 
The dut>- of cultivating a general interest in many pursuits and 
of avoiding the narrowness due to an excessive addiction to 
any one pursuit was a cardinal maxim in the code of the eight- 
eenth-century gentleman and one upon which a man of the 
broad cultivation of Addison was peculiarly fitted to speak with 
authority. 

(Motto). 
"Not to be too much addicted to any one thing I take to be a 
principal rule of life." 

Terence, Andrea, act I, scene i, verses 33-34- 

24, 19-20. His profession and particular way of life. Dr, 
Samuel Johnson expresses this same idea by saying: "Perfect 
good breeding consists in having no particular mark of any 
profession but a general elegance of manners; whereas in a 
militaiy- man you can commonly distinguish the brand of a 
soldier, Vhomme d'epee" 

24, 30. Ombre: the most fashionable game of cards in Ad- 
dison's day. The game originated in Spain and is so called 
from the phrase " Yo soy Thombre," used by the player who 
declared trumps. Pope gives an excellent description of the 
game in the third canto of his Rape of the Loch. 

25, 10. Westminster Hall: a large hall in which law courts 
used to be situated but which now serves as a vestibule to the 
Houses of Parliament. 

25, 16-17. The Gazette: the official journal of the govern- 
ment. Shortly before this time Steele had been editor of the 
Gazette. See Introduction, page x. 

26, 3. Cry up: praise. We still say "decry.** 

26, 5. Collator of a manuscript. Before the invention of 
printing, the works of an author had to be copied by hand and 
errors were liable to creep into these copies by the carelessness 
of scribes. The collator of a manuscript was therefore one who 
compared or ** collated" the various manuscript copies of a 
given author with a view to correcting these errors and re- 
storing the original version of the author. 

26. 8-9. A Greek particle . . . proper commas. A Greek 
particle is a minor word in a Greek sentence. Addison here 
pokes fun at those who devote their lives to the minute details 
of scholarship. A contrary* view is, however, expressed by 
Robert Browning, who, in the Grammarian's Funeral, bestows 



Notes and Comment 155 

high praise upon the scholar who devoted a lifetime to an at- 
tempt to "settle*' the "business'* of a Greek particle. 

Questions 

1. State in your own words the distinction which Addison 
draws between a person of broad cultivation and a pedant. 

2. How many different kinds of pedants does Addison men- 
tion? Can you mention any additional varieties? 

3. Had Addison, aside from the fact that he was himself an 
author, any reasons for being more lenient towards the book 
pedant than towards any other variety? 

VI. COVERLEY HALL 

In this paper Sir Roger first emerges into conspicuous view 
and from now on to the end of the series holds the attention 
of the reader to the practical exclusion of every other member 
of Mr. Spectator's club. 
(Motto). 

" Here plenty's liberal horn shall pour 
Of fruits for thee a copious show'r, 
Rich honors of the quiet plain." 

Horace, Odes^ book I, ode XVII, verses 14-16. 
27, 14-15. A privy counselor: a member of the Privy 
Council, a body of men who acted towards the King of Eng- 
land in somewhat the same advisory capacity that the members 
of the American Cabinet act towards the President. 
27, 16. Pad: an easy-riding horse. 

27, 31. Pleasant upon any of them: good-naturedly jocose 
at the expense of any of them. 

28, II. A chaplain. In Addison's day it was customary for 
a country squire to employ a domestic chaplain to look after the 
spiritual welfare of himself, his family, and his tenantry. 
Owing to the low estate to which the church had fallen, the 
chaplain was rarely treated with the respect which we should 
show towards a clergyman to-day. Although the chaplain was 
permitted to dine with the squire, he was obliged to withdraw 

I with the ladies when the wine was brought on the table, and, 
in general, was more apt to be treated as an inferior than 
as an equal. 
28, 19. Humorist. See the note to 12, 4. 



156 Notes and Comment 

28, 19. Imperfections. In the second de Coverley paper 
Steele had represented Sir Roger as altogether free from faults 
(8, 5-6), whereas Addison in the present passage frankly allows 
him certain imperfections. This difference in the conception of 
Sir Roger is just what we might expect from the difference 
in the nature of the two authors. Steele, the moralist, prefers 
to paint Sir Roger as altogether virtuous; Addison, the artist, 
believes he can draw a more life-like portrait by representing 
the knight as partaking of the defects no less than of the ex- 
cellences of our common nature. 

28, 30. At his own table. In his ignorance of Latin and 
Greek, Sir Roger is a typical representative of the country 
squire of his day, who, as a rule, was poorly educated. Never- 
theless Sir Roger appears to have been better acquainted with 
books than the average member of his class. Thus he is repeat- 
edly quoting Baker's Chronicle (note to 20, 23) and supplies 
his chaplain with a large variety of the best sermons of the day 
(29, 18-21). Moreover his friend Leonora was a lady of decid- 
edly literary ambitions, and his lady-love, the " perverse 
widow," was "a desperate scholar" (54, i), and argued as 
well as "the best philosopher in Europe" (54, 14). 

29, 8. Thinks he is. At his death Sij Roger " bequeathed 
to the chaplain a very pretty tenement with good lands about 
it" (137, 22-23). 

29, 27. Bishop of St. Asaph. Probably William Beveridge 
(1637-1708) and not his successor, William Fleetwood (1656- 
1723), who was bishop of St. Asaph in Addison's day. The 
former had already published an important volume of sermons, 
whereas the sermons of the latter did not become generally 
known until after the time of the Spectator. 

29, 28. Dr. South: Robert South (1634-1716), a high church- 
man and eloquent preacher. His sermons were published in 
six volumes in 1692. 

29, 30. Archbishop Tillotson. The sermons of John Tillot- 
son (1630-1694), Archbishop of Canterbury, were published in 
fourteen volumes, four of which appeared before his death. 

29, 30-31. Bishop Sanderson: Robert Sanderson (1587- 
1663), chaplain to Charles I. The best edition of his sermons 
was published with his Life by Isaak Walton in 1687. 

29, 31. Dr. Barrow: Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), a theolo- 
gian and mathematician. 

29, 31. Dr. Calamy: Edmund Calamy (1600-1666), chaplain 



Notes and Comment 157 

to Charles II. Unlike the other clergymen on Sir Roger's list, 
who belonged to the Church of England, Dr. Calamy was a 
Presbyterian divine. 

30, 12. Masters. Benjamin Franklin likewise recommends 
that clergymen of ordinary ability repeat sermons composed by 
great masters of pulpit eloquence rather than attempt " labori- 
ous compositions of their own " {Autobiography, edited for this 
series by F. W. Pine, page 107). For this sound advice Frank- 
lin was, no doubt, again indebted to the Spectator. See note 
to 10, 21-22. 

Questions 

1. At the beginning of this paper Mr. Spectator speaks of 
Sir Roger as of an old acquaintance. On what previous occa- 
sion have these two men been introduced in one another's 
company? Would not the familiar terms with which Mr. 
Spectator refers to Sir Roger imply that they had met on other 
occasions as well? If so, have we not a right to expect that 
these other meetings should have been described in previous 
papers? 

2. What prevailing characteristic of Mr. Spectator is men- 
tioned in the opening paragraph? Has this characteristic been 
noted before, and where? See note to 4, 22, and to 21, 5. 

3. Addison does not describe Sir Roger directly, but indirectly, 
by bringing him into relation with his servants and showing 
how he acted towards them and how they acted towards him. 
Which of these methods is the more effective, and why? 

4. Note how gradually Addison proceeds to unfold the 
character of Sir Roger by describing his relations (i) to his 
servants in general, (2) to his butler, and (3) to his chaplain. 
Does Addison introduce these several persons in the order 
which is rhetorically the most effective? 

5. Sir Roger was a bachelor and, in default of wife and 
children, had come to look upon his servants as his family. 
Observe how every detail in the present paper serves to fortify 
this impression of Sir Roger as a father to his domestics. 

VII. THE COVERLEY SERVANTS 

In this paper Steele concludes the sketch of the Coverley house- 
hold begun by Addison in the paper that precedes. By con- 
tinuing to lay emphasis upon the fatherly relation which Sir 



158 Notes and Comment 

Roger sustains to his servants, Steele brings this paper into 
admirable harmony with the last. 

(Motto). 

" The Athenians erected a large statue to -^sop, and placed 
him, though a slave, on a lasting pedestal: to show that the 
way to honor lies open indifferently to all." 

PHiEDRUS, Fables, book II, epilogue, verses 1-3. 

30, 17. Corruption of manners in servants: a subject al- 
ready treated by Steele in Spectator No. 88. 

30, 24-25. Industriously: purposely, as in the Latin " de in- 
dustria." 

31, 5. To be much beforehand: to have a good balance in 
the domestic treasury. 

31, 14. Stripped: stripped of his livery, dismissed. 

31, 30. Cast: cast off. 

3i> 33-34- Pleasant on this occasion. Sec note to 27, 31. 

32, 12. Husband: economist. 

32, 15-16. Spare a large fine when a tenement falls: re- 
mit the fine which the servant, as lessee, would legally have to 
pay to his landlord on taking possession of a tenement or prop- 
erty on which the old lease had expired (or "fallen"). 

32, 24. Independent livelihoods. Compare this statement 
with that made in the preceding paper (27, 6-11). How do you 
account for the inconsistency? See notes to 8, n, and 28, 19 
(second note). 

32, 27. Visitants: visitors. 

32, 29. Late: former. 

33, 18. To prentice: to be apprenticed. 
33» 32-33. Took off the dress he was in: took off the livery 

which the man wore as a badge of servitude. Notice the more 
complimentary terms here used as compared with the expression 
" stripped " in 31, 14. 

Questions 

1. Characterize as fully as possible Sir Roger's attitude to- 
wards his servants. 

2. By what overt acts does Sir Roger express his feelings 
towards these servants? 

3. Read what is said of the differences between the literary 
methods of Steele and of Addison in the Introduction (page 
xxii) and then illustrate these differences by a comparison of 
this paper with the preceding. 



Notes and Comment 159 

VIII. WILL WIMBLE 

Will Wimble does not, like Leonora, divert our attention 
from Sir Roger de Coverley. Though not a member of Mr. 
Spectator's club. Will Wimble was a constant visitor at Cov- 
erley Hall, and the cordial welcome which this harmless but 
ineffectual personage there receives throws a new and interesting 
side-light upon the character of Sir Roger. 

(Motto). 

** Out of breath to no purpose, and very busy about nothing." 
PHiEDRUS, Fables, book II, fable V, verse 3. 

34, 12. Wimble. The word "wimble" — when used as a 
common noun — is of the same derivation as the word " gim- 
let," and it has been suggested that by the choice of this name 
Addison meant to imply that Will Wimble was either " a small 
bore " or else that, though " always turning about," he made 
" a very small hole." These interpretations of the name, 
though supported by the numerous instances in which char- 
acters in the Sir Roger de Coverley papers bear names that 
are significant, appear in the present case far-fetched and 
fantastic. 

34, 18. Jack: a pickerel or small pike. 

34, 24. Twisted last week. In writing his account of Will 
Wimble, Addison apparently had in mind the description in 
Taller No. 256 of Mr. Thomas Gules, who " never employed 
himself beyond the twisting of a whip or the making of a pair 
of nut-crackers, in which he only worked for his diversion, in 
order to make a present now and then to his friends." 

35. 2-3. Sir John's eldest son has reference to no particular 
person, but to any young heir to whom Will Wimble may tem- 
porarily attach himself for the sake of a livelihood. 

35, 9-10. Younger brother to a baronet. The eldest son 
of an English nobleman succeeds to the family title and estate; 
and it is usual for the younger sons, owing to a traditional 
prejudice against trade, either to enter one of the professions 
or if, like Will Wimble, they lack brains for professional life, 
to subsist, like that gentleman, upon the bounty of others. As 
is evident, however, from a later passage in the present paper 
(37, 13-33), ^1^^ "younger sons" of Addison's day did not in- 
variably abstain from trade, and in our own day they do so 
even less frequently than then. 

35, 14. Hunts a pack of dogs: hunts with a pack of dogs. 



1 6c Notes and Comment 

35, 17. May-fly: an artificial fly for fishing. 

35. 19- Officious: obliging. 

35, 22. Tulip-root. Owing to a recent mania for tulips, 
the price of that bulb was exorbitant. Addison in Tatler No. 
218 tells of a cook who mistook '' a handful of tulip-roots for a 
heap of onions and by that means made a dish of porridge 
that cost above a thousand pounds sterling." 

35, 27. Made: trained. 

36, I. In the character of him: in describing his character. 
36, 28. Foiled it: tired it out. 

36, 33. Quail-pipe: a pipe to imitate the call of a quail. 

37, 8. Affairs: business. 

37, 16. Quality: station in life. 

37, 16. Humor. See note to 8, 7. 

37, 21. Best of their family. Addison, like Steele, was a 
Whig and, like the latter, loses no opportunity to glorify the 
merchant class of which that party was largely composed. See 
note to 10, 31. 

37, 28. Improper: unfit. 

37, 33. Twenty-first speculation. In Spectator No. 21 Ad- 
dison upholds the opportunities afforded by trade as superior to 
those afforded by the learned professions. 

Questions 

1. By what indications at the opening of this paper are we 
given to understand that Will Wimble was a frequent visitor 
at Coverley Hall? 

2. In what several pursuits does Will Wimble engage? 
What sort of a character does devotion to such pursuits show 
Will Wimble to have been? 

3. What sort of a welcome does Will Wimble receive from 
Sir Roger? What inference would you draw therefrom respect- 
ing the character of the latter? 

4. Are the remarks made by Mr. Spectator at the end pertinent 
to the subject of this paper or might they better have been 
omitted? 

IX. THE COVERLEY PORTRAITS 

It is the custom of Steele and Addison to add little by little 
to our knowledge of Sir Roger by presenting him in each -paper 



Notes and Comment i6i 

in some new relation of life. Sir Roger has already been pre- 
sented in the character of a master in relation to his servants 
and in that of a host in relation to his guest. In the present 
paper he is introduced as the possessor of a long gallery of 
family portraits and we are allowed to see the pride with 
which — like every country squire — he cherishes the memory of 
his ancestors. It was fortunate that the subject of Sir Roger's 
family portraits should have fallen to the lot of Steele, since 
he surpasses Addison in graphic, concrete portraiture. Observe 
with what few but masterly strokes he makes each ancestor step 
as though alive from the canvas. And yet these ancestors are 
described not so much for their own sake as for the purpose 
of making us better acquainted with Sir Roger. The delightful 
simplicity of the good knight is well illustrated by his evident 
pride in the heroic ancestor who " narrowly escaped being 
killed at the battle of Worcester." 

(Motto). 

". Of plain good sense, untutor'd in the schools." 

— Horace, Satires, book II, satire ii, verse 3. 

38, 21. Jetting: jutting. 

38, 21. Bonnet: cap. 

38, 21. Habit. See note to 12, 14. 

38, 22. Harry the Seventh's time: Henry VII, King of 
England, 1485-1509. 

38, 22-23. Yeoman of the Guard: a body of men, popularly 
known as "beef-eaters,'' who constitute the bodyguard of the 
sovereign. They still wear the uniform here described. 

39, 4. Tilt-yard. Prior to Addison's day the Tilt-yard was 
an open space of ground on which tournaments were held. In 
Addison's day a part of this open space had been converted 
into lots on which buildings stood, and a part, as stated in the 
next line, was used as a street. 

39, 5. Whitehall: a royal palace in London, now no longer 
in existence. 

39, 9. Target: shield. 

39, II. RiJ: rode. 

39, 18-19. The Coffee-house: a coffee-house kept by a cer- 
tain Jenny Man on the site of the Tilt-yard, and hence known 
both as "Jenny Man's coffee-house" and as "the Tilt-yard 
coffee-house." It was frequented in Addison's day by military 
men. 

39, 29. Gathered at the waist. Both the ' old " and the 



1 62 Notes and Comment 

"new" style of petticoat were of the full, swelling variety 
known as the " hoop " petticoat. The chief difference between 
the two was that the old style was cut straight up and down 
so as to resemble a drum, whereas the new style was cut in at 
the waist so as to resemble a bell. Both styles stood out as 
much as possible from the figure instead of being cut close to 
the figure, as at the present time. Addison makes some amusing 
remarks on the large, ** hoop " petticoat in Spectator No. 127. 

39, 29. Grandmother: an abbreviation for the "great- 
great-great-grandmother " mentioned two lines above. 

40, 2. White-pot: a dessert made of cream, rice, sugar, and 
currants, and flavored with cinnamon. 

40, 13. Romp: an unruly or boisterous girl. 

40, 13. Matter: loss. 

40, 15. Soft gentleman: gentleman of effeminate manners. 

40, 16. Slashes: slits made in an outer garment to reveal a 
more brilliant garment underneath. 

41, 1-2. Sir Andrew Freeport has said. Sir Andrew con- 
sistently defends the interests of the business class. He after- 
wards reminds Sir Roger of the indebtedness of the latter's 
family to trade (107, 34 and following). 

41, 5. Winked at: connived at. 

41, 16. Knight of this shire: representative of the shire in 
Parliament. 

41, 19. Offices: duties. 

41, 27-28. Husbandman. See note to 32, 12. 

41, 28. Such a degree: a certain degree. 

42, 4. Civil Wars: the wars between the Roundheads, who 
supported Cromwell, and the Cavaliers, who supported Charles 
I. and his son, Charles II. 

42, 6. Battle of Worcester: a battle in which Cromwell de- 
feated the Scotch adherents of Charles II. 

Questions 

1. How many ancestors of Sir Roger does Steele describe 
and what does he say of each? 

2. Does Steele appear to be describing all of Sir Roger's 
ancestors or only a few of them? If the latter, what appears 
to have been the principle he followed in making the selection? 

3. Is Steele more apt to limit his remarks about Sir Roger's 
ancestors to details actually depicted in their portraits or to 



Notes and Comment 163 

depart from the portrait and give details that are incapable of 
graphic representation? Which of these two methods of pro- 
cedure is the more effective, and why? 



X. THE COVERLEY GHOST 

In Addison's day a belief in ghosts, witches, and other super- 
natural beings still lingered to a large extent in the country. 
It was but natural, therefore, that in a series of papers that 
deal with the life of a country squire, some attention should 
be paid to these subjects. Accordingly Addison devotes the 
present paper to ghosts and a later paper (No. XIV) to witches. 
Moreover, quite apart from the appropriateness of this topic in 
the present series, Addison himself took a personal interest in 
the question as to the existence of supernatural beings. Indeed 
it must be acknowledged that he has in the present paper al- 
lowed this interest to divert his attention unduly from Sir 
Roger. The long quotations from Locke, Lucretius, and 
Josephus, interesting as they are to the student of spectral lore, 
add but little to our knowledge of Sir Roger. 

(Motto). 

" All things are full of horror and affright, 
And dreadful even the silence of the night." 

Virgil, JEneidy book II, verse 755. 

42, 19. Psalms. The quotation is made from the Prayer 
Book version of Psalm CXLVII, verse 9. 

43, 12. Harbors: the object of the verb ** covered." 

43, 26. Mr. Locke in his chapter of the Association of 
Ideas. Locke treats this subject in his Essay on the Human 
Understanding (book II, chapter xxxiii, section 10). 

45, II. Lucretius: Titus Lucretius Carus (b. c. 98-55), a 
Roman philosophical poet. The idea referred to occurs in his 
De Rerum Natura (book IV, verse 26 and following). 

45» 27. Josephus: Flavius Josephus (37-95), a Jew who 
wrote two histories of his own people in the Greek language. 
The "story" occurs in his Antiquities of the Je^'s (book XVII, 
chapter xiii, sections iv and v). 

46, 18. Those kings: that is, the husbands of Glaphyra, of 
whom Josephus is speaking in the passage under consideration. 



164 Notes and Comment 

Questions 

1. By what circumstance does Addison make the topic of 
ghosts arise naturally out of Mr. Spectator's visit at Coverley 
Hall? 

2. By means of what anecdote is Sir Roger made to con- 
tribute to the discussion upon ghosts? Should you, from this 
anecdote, infer that Sir Roger was or was not a believer in 
ghosts ? 

3. To judge from his words on the subject, should you say 
that Mr. Spectator was more or that he was less sceptical than 
Sir Roger on the subject of ghosts? 

XL SUNDAY WITH SIR ROGER 

The country squire in Addison's day was by no means dis- 
tinguished for piety or devotion, and whatever spiritual influ- 
ence he might exert over his tenantry was exerted rather for 
the sake of maintaining good order and effective discipline than 
from any deep religious or spiritual conviction. Sir Roger is 
no exception to this rule. He attends church regularly, to be 
sure, but he does so rather that he may *' count the congrega 
tion " than because he feels any special concern for the salvation 
of his own soul or of theirs. The humorous contrast between 
the standards of behavior which he demands of his tenants and 
those which he observes himself illustrates very admirably that 
eccentric element in the character of the knight which runs like 
a red thread through every fresh presentation of his character 
and which nowhere appears in a stronger light than in the 
present paper. 

(Motto). 

" First, in obedience to thy country's rites. 
Worship the immortal gods." 

— Pythagoras, Carmina Aurea, verses 1-2 

47, 18-19. The Change: the Exchange. 

48, 3. Hassock: a cushion to kneel on. 
48, 17. Particularities. See note to 21, 21. 

48, 34. Polite: well-bred. 

49, 9. Such an one's. See note to 41, 28. 
49, 18. To the clerk's place: to the clerk's salary. In an 

English parish church the clerk is the layman who leads the 
congregation in reading the responses. 



4 



Notes and Comment 165 

49, 31. Tithe stealers. A tax of a tenth ("tithe") of the 
annual income of a tenant was at that time exacted for the 
benefit of the clergy. 

Questions 

1. What various details does Addison employ to make us 
realize that the Sunday with Sir Roger was spent in the coun- 
try and not in the city? 

2. What indications are there in this paper that Sir Roger 
regards church attendance rather as a useful means of enforcing 
discipline than as an act of religious devotion? 

3. What eccentricities does Sir Roger display either in his 
own methods of religious observance or in the means he employs 
of enforcing religious observance among his dependents? 

4. Should you call Sir Roger a conscious or an unconscious 
humorist? Which of these two types is usually the more amus- 
ing? 

XII. SIR ROGER IN LOVE 

In the second de Coverley paper (8, 11-26) Steele referred 
to a love affair which Sir Roger had in his youth with a beau- 
tiful widow. In the present paper he resumes this subject and 
relates in some detail Sir Roger's relations with this lady. It 
is interesting to note that Sir Roger's love experiences are in- 
variably treated by Steele, who, by reason of his more ardent 
temperament, was better fitted to do justice to this subject than 
Addison. 

(Motto). 

" Her looks were deep imprinted in his heart.'* 

— Virgil, /Eneidy book IV, verse 4. 

50, 15. I mentioned. See 8, 11-26. 

50, 22. Settled upon one. Steele is here speaking not seri- 
ously but humorously. He does not mean that "any part" of 
Sir Roger's estate was actually " settled upon " the widow by 
deed of gift, but only that it was so intimately associated with 
her in his mind as to seem to belong to her. 

52, 5. Assizes: sessions of the petty jury. See note to 75, 7. 

52, 7. Event: outcome. 

52, 14. A murrain to her: a plague upon her. 

54, 30. The sphinx: a she-monster who slew all who could 



1 66 Notes and Comment 

not answer the riddle which she propounded. The riddle ran 
as follows: *' What animal goes on four feet in the morning, 
two at noon, and three at night?'* CEdipus gave the right 
answer, " Man," and so saved his life. 

54, 31. Posing her: outwitting her. 

55, 4. Tucker: neckerchief. 

55, 9. Tansy: a pudding flavored with the herb "tansy." 

55, 25. That of Martial: that epigram of Martial. Marcus 
Valerius Martialis (38.'*-io2?) was a famous Roman epigram- 
matist. 

55, 26. "Dum tacet banc loquitur": "even when silent he 
is speaking of her." 

55, 27. Epigram: Martial's Epigrams, book I, epigram Ixviii. 
The last two verses of the epigram are not quoted. 

Questions 

1. In speaking of the widow how many times does Sir Roger 
declare that " she has certainly the finest hand of any woman 
in the world"? What particular act of the widow helped 
to stamp this impression upon his memory? 

2. Does Sir Roger lay greater stress upon the physical beau- 
ties or upon the mental endowments of the widow? What does 
he say of each? 

3. On what memorable occasion did Sir Roger first behold the 
widow? Had he seen her frequently since that time? 

4. Describe in detail how the widow treated Sir Roger when 
he called upon her. Had he good reason to resent this treat- 
ment? 

5. Does Sir Roger recall his experiences with the widow with 
pleasure, or with pain, or with a mixture of both? 

6. What effect did Sir Roger's experiences with the widow 
have upon his character? Were these effects such as one would 
expect ? 

XIII. SIR ROGER GOES A-HUNTING 

The present paper, as well as Nos. XXVIII and XXX in 
this series, were written by Eustace Budgell, a cousin and 
intimate friend of Addison. After Addison's death Budgell 
drowned himself in the Thames because of a forgery he had 
committed in order to escape financial difficulties in which he 



Notes and Comment 167 

^had become involved as a result of the collapse of the South 
Sea Bubble. Since hunting was one of the chief pastimes of 
the country squire, it would certainly not have been proper to 
omit a hunt from the list of Sir Roger's customary activities. 
Budgell appears to have contributed this paper because he was 
the son of a Devonshire squire and therefore more familiar 
with hunting than Steele or Addison. 
(Motto). 

" The echoing hills and chiding hounds invite." 

— Virgil, Georgtcs, book III, verses 43-44. 

56, 13. Bastile: a state prison in Paris, torn down by the 
infuriated populace on the eve of the French Revolution, July 
14, 1789, 

57, 16. Stone-horse: stallion. 

57, 17. Staked himself: spiked himself on a fence he was 
trying to leap. 

57, 21. Stop-hounds: hounds taught to stop short at a word 
from their master, as opposed to beagles, who cannot learn 
this trick and run straight ahead. Hunting with beagles — 
like fox-hunting — was too lively a sport for a man of Sir 
Roger's years, and therefore Budgell makes him hunt with 
stop-hounds, quite overlooking the fact that stop-hounds were 
no more used for hare-hunting than for fox-hunting. 

57, 24. Cry: pack. 

57, 25. Concert. This custom of selecting a pack with 
harmonious cries, though discontinued to-day, was in vogue long 
before Addison's day. King Henry H is reported to have had 
a pack " well-tongued and consonous," the quotation from 
Shakespeare (just below) proves that the custom prevailed in 
Queen Elizabeth's time, and the present passage indicates that 
it had not yet died out in the age of Queen Anne. 

57, 31. Counter-tenor: a high tenor. 

57» 33-34- Midsummer Night's Dream. The passage is 
quoted from act IV, scene i, verses 123-130. 

58, 2. Flewed: provided with chaps or heavily overhanging 
upper lips. 

58, 2. Sanded: distinguished by yellow or sand-colored 
blotches. 

58, 4. Dew-lapped: having folds of skin hanging from 
beneath the throat, as in cattle. 

58, 5. Mouths: incorrectly quoted for the singular form 
" mouth," which means bark. 



1 68 Notes and Comment 

58, 6. Each under each: each a musical note lower thai\ 
the other. 

58, 10. Pad. See note to 27, 16. 

58, II. Yesterday morning: that is, July 12, the day be- 
fore the date of the present paper. Three lines above, Mr. 
Spectator states that " Sir Roger has been out almost every 
day since I came down." Since Mr. Spectator must have " come 
down " to Coverley Hall before July 2, the date of the first 
paper written from Sir Roger's, Budgell stands convicted of 
the serious blunder of making Sir Roger hunt repeatedly in 
the month of July, which was not, of course, the hunting sea- 
son. It is strange that Budgell, who, as already said, was the 
son of a country squire and who throughout this paper displays 
great familiarity with the technical details of a hunt, should 
have made this mistake. Compare the note to 57, 21. 

58, 19. Beat: beat the bushes to arouse game. 

58, 28. "Yes." See note to 4, 22. 

59, 15. Opened: bayed. 

60, 6. His pole: a long pole used for vaulting ditches by 
those who followed the chase cross country on foot. 

60, 22. Pascal: Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a famous French, 
geometrician and philosopher. His greatest work was pub- 
lished after his death under the title Pensees de M, Pascal sur 
la Religion. The present passage is taken from the seventh 
article of the first part of the Pensees, entitled Misere de 
Uhomme. 

61, 8-9. Too great an application to his studies in his 
youth. Pascal was one of those few men — few indeed nowa- 
days — who brought himself to a premature grave by over-study 
in youth. At the age of sixteen he wrote a Latin treatise on 
Conic Sections and tells us that from the age of eighteen he 
never passed a day of his life without pain. 

61, 21. Mr. Dryden: John Dryden (1631-1700), a famous 
English poet. The lines occur in an Epistle to his Kinsman^ 
7. Driden Esq., of Chesterton, verses 73-4; 88-95. 

61, 31. X. See note to 7, 23. 

Questions 

I. Can you find in the form of expression used at the open 
ing of the second paragraph any indication that this paper 
was written by a new hand? 



Notes and Comment 169 

2. Budgell was an Oxford graduate and a man of marked 
literary ability. Do each of these facts help to explain the 
presence of the Shakespearean quotation in this paper? 

3. Is the quotation from Midsummer Nighfs Dream appro- 
priately introduced? Has anything been said in the preceding 
paragraph to suggest it? What is it? 

4. Give a detailed description of the Coverley hunt. 

5. Can you mention any points of resemblance or of differ- 
ence between the method of conducting a hare-hunt in Sir 
Roger's day and in our own day? 

6. Budgell uses a number of technical hunting terms in this 
paper. What are these? Are any of these terms in use to-day? 
What are they? 

XIV. THE COVERLEY WITCH 

Addison is guilty of no exaggeration when he represents Mr. 
Spectator as saying that he has heard that " there is scarce a 
village in England that has not a Moll White in it." Even 
highly educated people of a much later period still continued 
to believe in witches. In 1770 John Wesley wrote in his 
Journal, " I cannot give up . . . the existence of witches till 
I give up the credit of all history, sacred and profane." And 
two years later Dr. Samuel Johnson acknowledged that "You 
have," in support of witchcraft, " not only the general report 
and belief, but many solemn, voluntary confessions." In Addi- 
son's day people not only believed in witches but they were 
quite ready to act upon that belief. Less than twenty years 
before the present paper was written many persons had been 
executed as witches in Salem, Massachusetts; more recently two 
women had been hung in Northampton, England, on the same 
charge; and five years after the date of the present paper a 
Mrs. Hicks and her nine-year-old daughter were executed in 
Huntingdon for " selling their souls to the devil, making their 
neighbors vomit pins, etc." It was not until 1736 that a statute 
enacted by James I in 1603, making witchcraft a capital offense, 
was repealed and the punishment of witches by death rendered 
henceforth and forever unlawful. 

(Motto). 

" With voluntary dreams they cheat their minds." 

Virgil, Eclogue Fill, verse 108. 

63, 2. Neuter: neutral. 



lyo Notes and Comment 

63, 12. Otway: Thomas Otway (1652-1685), a well-known 
tragic dramatist. The passage which follows is taken from his 
tragedy, the Orphan, act II, scene i. 

63, 16. Rheum: a mucous discharge from the eyes. 

63, 21. Nothing of a piece. The word *' a " is here used 
in its original sense of *' one." " Nothing of a piece," there- 
fore, means '* everything different." 

63, 22. Weeds: garments. 

63, 30-31. Carried her several hundreds of miles. An 
allusion, of course, to the current belief that witches rode 
through the air on broomsticks or other equally unsubstantial 
supports. According to the next page (64, 20), Moll White has 
a broomstick behind her door. 

64, 1-2. Saying her prayers backwards. Only a few 
months after the present paper was written, a certain Jane 
Wenham of Hertfordshire was condemned to death as a witch 
because, among other supposed evidences of guilt, she was 
unable to repeat the Lord's Prayer. 

64, 3. Take a pin of her. An allusion to the current be- 
lief that the bodies of bewitched persons contained pins. Ac- 
cording to the next page (65, 4-5), Moll White had been 
accused of making " children spit pins." 

64, 22. Tabby cat. A black cat frequently figured in witch- 
craft stories, since witches were supposed to hold intercourse 
with Satan and since Satan was supposed frequently to assume 
the disguise of a black cat; 

65, 7. Trying experiments with her: that is, to see whether 
she would swim or not. If she floated she would be judged 
guilty, if she sank, innocent. Thus she would lose her life in 
cither case. 

65, 12. County sessions: quarter sessions. See note to 75, 7. 



Questions 

1. Distinguish the difference of attitude towards witchcraft 
held successively by (i) Sir Roger's tenants, (2) Sir Roge 
(3) Sir Roger's chaplain, and (4) Mr. Spectator. 

2. Is it possible to reconcile Mr. Spectator's statement that h 
believes " in general that there is such a thing as witchcraft 
with his further statement that he " can give no credit to any 
particular instance of it"? 

3. Of what particular incriminating acts was Moll White 



ic 

] 



Notes and Comment 171 

supposed to be guilty? See notes to 63, 30-31, 64, 1-2, 64, 3, and 
64, 22. 

4. Observe that in the present paper Addison has brought 
his discussion of witches into much closer connection with Sir 
Roger than he had his discussion of ghosts in No. X. To what 
difference in treatment is this improvement due? 

XV. SIR ROGER TALKS OF THE WIDOW 

Observe that this second paper upon Sir Roger's relations 
with the widow is again written by Steele. Re-read the intro- 
ductory comment to paper No. XII. 
(Motto). 

" The fatal dart 
Sticks in his side, and rankles in his heart." 

— Virgil, JEneid, book IV, verse 73. 
66, 15. Grove sacred to the widow: mentioned on page 50, 
line 24. 

68, 10. Personated: affected, assumed. 

69, 2. Susan HoUiday: a rival. 

69, 6. Kate Willow: a mischief-maker. 
69, 27. Woman. Sir Roger here reverts to the widow. 
69, 33-34. To this dear image in my heart owing: owing 
to this dear image in my heart. 

Questions 

1. This entire paper turns upon the danger of having a con- 
fidante. What three situations described in this paper illustrate 
this danger? Which of these three situations appeals most 
powerfully, and which least powerfully, to our feelings? 

2. By what peculiar mannerisms does Sir Roger betray his 
agitation when talking of the widow? 

3. Is it natural for a person as agitated as Sir Roger to stop 
and tell a story as purely imaginary as that of Orestilla and 
Themista? Would Addison have been likely to make such a 
representation? 

4. In what way is the incident of the lovers in the wood 
made to illustrate the danger of having a confidante? 

5. On what previous occasions has reference been made (i) 
to the widow's confidante, (2) to the widow's learning, and (3) 



172 Notes and Comment amM 

to the idea that Sir Roger's love experiences have unsettled his 
brain? See No. XII. 

XVI. TOWN AND COUNTRY MANNERS 

The contrast here drawn between the town and the country 
springs so naturally from the visit of the city-bred Mr. Spec- 
tator at the country seat of Coverley Hall as to render the 
absence of any direct reference to Sir Roger entirely unnotice- 
able. 

(Motto). 

** The city men call Rome, unskilful clown, 
I thought resembled this our humble town." 

— Virgil, Eclogue I, verses 20-21. 

71, lo-ii. Conversation: social intercourse. 

71, 12. Modish. See note to 12, 16. 

71, 19-20. The fashionable world is grown free and easy. 
City manners in Addison's day — though somewhat more strict 
than in the period of general relaxation that immediately fol- 
lowed the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 — still remained 
*' free and easy " when compared with the more formal and 
ceremonious manners of the country. 

71, 25. Manners of the last age. As is always the case, 
the country people of Addison's time aped the manners of a 
by-gone generation of fashionable folk. In fact they were so 
far behind the time that they had not even caught up with the 
lax manners of Charles IPs reign but still continued to copy the 
courtly ceremony of a more remote age. 

71, 31. Conversed. See note to 71, lo-ii. 

71, 34. To do: fuss, ceremony. Our expression "ado" is an 
abbreviation of " to do." 

73, 23-24. Red coats and laced hats. These came into 
vogue at the time of the Revolution in 1688 and were there- 
fore fashionable about twenty years before the present paper 
was written. In 1711 the red coat had become superseded by 
a coat of a quieter color and the laced hat by a cocked hat of 
black felt. 

73, 25-26. The height of their head-dresses. In Spectator 
No. 98 Addison wrote: "There is not so variable a thing in 
nature as a lady's head-dress. Within my own memory I have 
known it rise and fall above thirty degrees. About ten years 
ago it shot up to a very great height, in so much that the female 



Notes and Comment 173 

part of our species were much taller than the men. ... I 
remember several ladies who were once very near seven feet 
high, that at present want some inches of five." 

73, 27-28. The western circuit: one of the judicial districts 
of England and Wales. 

73, 32. Letter from him: published in Spectator No. 129. 

Questions 

1. In what sense does Mr. Spectator use the term "man- 
ners" in this paper? Do we still use the word in the same 
sense? 

2. The paper on Pedantry (No. V) likewise deals with the 
general subject of manners. By whom was this paper written? 
Should you judge that Steele or Addison was better fitted to 
deal with the subject of manners? Why? See introductory 
comments to Nos. IV and V. 

3. Is it still true that country folk love to imitate the man- 
ners of dwellers in town? What examples can you give from 
your own experience? 

4. In what three respects does Mr. Spectator say that the 
inhabitants of the country imitate city dwellers? What particular 
examples does he mention under each head? 

5. Does Mr. Spectator institute the present comparison be- 
tween town and country in order to point a moral ? If not, 
for what purpose is the comparison made? 

XVII. SIR ROGER AT THE ASSIZES 

Among the various activities of the English country squire, 
IS the local administration of justice. In the second paper of 
the present series, Steele represented Sir Roger as a "justice of 
the quorum " and as " filling the chair at a quarter session with 
great abilities" (9, 1-3); and again in the twelfth paper, by 
the same author, it is in the capacity of " sheriff " that Sir 
Roger attends the trial in which the ** perverse widow " ap- 
pears as defendant (52, 20). In pursuance of these earlier 
hints, Addison, in the present paper, pictures Sir Roger as still 
fond of exercising judicial authority on all possible occasions. 
The paper furnishes one of the best examples of the easy grace 
and perfect good breeding which characterize Addison. Notice 
that in place of a dull and prolonged account of proceedings 



174 Notes and Comment 



at court, Addison enlivens the paper by a peculiarly appropriate 
sketch of the litigious Tom Touchy at the opening and by the 
grotesque and wholly unexpected story of the " Saracen's Head " 
at the end. The clever ruse by which, at the close of the paper, 
Mr. Spectator turns Sir Roger's own weapon against him, makes 
of this paper one of the most delightful specimens of Addi- 
sonian humor. 

(Motto). 

" An agreeable companion upon the road is as good as a 
coach." 

— PuBLius Syrus, Fragments. 

74, 19. County assizes. See note to 75, 7. 

74, 21. Rid: rode. 

74, 26. Just within the Game Act. This act provided that 
one must have an annual income of forty pounds a year or 
two hundred pounds' worth of goods and chattels in order to 
be allowed to shoot game. 

75, 7. Petty jury. The "petty" or small jury differed from 
the ''grand" or large jury in that the former actually tried 
cases, whereas the latter merely decided whether the evidence 
produced against a person was sufficient to warrant trial. Both 
juries exercised jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases, 
and so differed from the courts held by justices of the peace, 
which passed judgment in criminal cases exclusively. The sit- 
tings of the petty jury were called "assizes" (52, 5) or 
"county assizes" (74, 19), as distinguished from the sittings 
of the justices of the peace, which were known as " quarter- 
sessions " (9, 2) or "county sessions" (65, 12). 

75, 8. Tom Touchy. A further instance of a name which 
at once betrays the character of the bearer. See note to 10, 5-6. 

75, 9. Taking the law of everybody: going to law with 
everybody. 

75, 17-18. Cast and been cast: won and lost. 

75, 19. Going upon the old business of the willow-tree: 
a characteristic instance of the trivial injuries for which Tom 
Touchy was in the habit of seeking legal redress. 

75, 26. Such a hole. See note to 41, 28. 

77, 19. Saracen's Head. In the early days, before people 
could read, it was customary to designate inns or shops by 
means of a swinging signboard upon which some figure was 
painted. Hence the names " Red Lion," " Spotted Calf," 
"Boar's Head," etc., still applied to inns in rural England and 



Notes and Comment 175 

America. The name " Saracen's Head " — like the even more 
common " Turk's Head " — indicates that this practice ran back 
to the time of the Crusades. The ugliness of the Saracen's 
head is due, of course, to the fact that the English, as Christians, 
would naturally give the Saracens as monstrous faces as pos- 
sible. 

Questions 

1. What eccentricities does Sir Roger betray in court? 

2. In what respects do these eccentricities resemble those 
which he exhibited at church (No. XI) ? Do these peculiarities 
appear due to his disappointment in love? If not, to what cause 
do they appear to be due? 

3. What indications are there that Sir Roger's country ac- 
quaintances are less quick than Mr. Spectator to perceive these 
idiosyncrasies? Why should there be this difference? 

4. What humiliating incident is related at the end of the 
paper? How is it related to the opening conversation with Tom 
Touchy? In what way may this incident be said to illustrate 
the maxim "Pride cometh before a fall"? 



XVIII. EUDOXUS AND LEONTINE 

Although the story contained in the following paper has 
nothing to do with Sir Roger, nevertheless the incident by 
which it is suggested is one which would naturally occur in a 
Tory neighborhood, such as that of Coverley Hall. " Young 
heirs and elder brothers" (79, 2-3) belonged, for the most part, 
to the Tory party and preferred to live on the large country 
estates of their ancestors rather than in town, where the commer- 
cial interests of the enterprising Whig merchants proved less 
congenial to men of their leisurely habits. Thus by referring 
at the opening of the paper to a young heir whom Mr. Spec- 
tator happens to observe in the neighborhood of Sir Roger's, 
Addison contrives, as in previous papers, to bring a story, 
which in itself has no direct bearing upon Sir Roger, into a 
sort of external conformity with the series as a whole. 

(Motto). 

" Yet the best blood by learning is refined. 
And virtue arms the solid mind; 



176 



Notes and Comment 



Whilst vice will stain the noblest race, 
And the paternal stamp efface." 

Horace, Odes, book IV, Ode IV, verses 33-36. 
79, 16. Like a novel. The word novel meant in those day& 
a short tale — corresponding to the Italian novella — and not the 
long complicated story which we now call a novel. The novel 
in this modern sense had not yet come into existence, being the 
creation of Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett in the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 

79, 32. Gazette. See note to 25, 16-17. 

80, 7. According to Mr. Cowley. '' There is no fooling 
with life when it is once turned beyond fort\'." This sentence 
occurs in an essay on the Danger of Procrastination by the poet 
and essayist, Abraham Cowley (1618-1667). 

80, 13. Of three hundred a year: yielding an income of 
three hundred pounds a year. 

81, 12. Dictated: led. 

81, 27. Inns of Court. See note to 9, 6--j. 

82, 28. Salutes: salutations. 

83, 22. Education. In a letter to his friend Edward Wort- 
ley Montagu, of the same date as this paper, Addison writes: 
" Being very well pleased with this day's Spectator, I cannot 
forbear sending you one of them, and desiring your opinion of 
the story in it. When you have a son I shall be very glad to 
be his Leontine, as my circumstances will probably be like his. 
I have within this twelve-month lost a place of £2,000 per 
annum, an estate in the Indies of £14,000 and, what is worse 
than all the rest, my mistress. Hear this and wonder at my 
philosophy." The last of the misfortunes recited in this letter 
appears to refer to a setback in Addison's courtship of the 
Countess of Warwick, whom he afterwards married. In spite 
of this reverse, Addison has composed in the present paper a 
very happy love story and thereby gives evidence of that 
admirable evenness of temper with which he always successfully 
confronted the practical diflSculties of life. 

Questions 

1. Does the story told in this paper appear to have been sug- 
gested by the young Tory heir or does the young Tor>' heir 
appear to have been introduced in order to make room for the 



Notes and Comment 177 

story? Which of these two possible methods of procedure would 
be the more artistic, and why? 

2. Can you detect in this paper the presence of any literary 
qualities that distinguish the work of Addison from that of 
Steele? What are they? See Introduction, page xxii. 

3. Should you judge from this paper that Addison was a 
good story-teller or not? Give reasons for your answer. 

XIX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT 

In Addison's day the English nation was divided into two 
rival parties, the Whigs and the Tories. Certain fundamental 
differences distinguished these two parties from one another. 
In the first place, the Tories were the successors of the earlier 
Royalist party and, as such, held more or less faithfully to the 
theory of " the divine right of kings." The Whigs, on the other 
hand, were the descendants of the earlier Puritan party and 
believed in the supremacy of Parliament. In the second place, 
the Tories, like the earlier Royalists, advocated the supervision 
of religion by the State and therefore supported the Established 
Church. The Whigs, on the other hand, believed in the right 
of each individual to choose his own form of worship and were, 
therefore, largely Dissenters. In the third place, the Tory party 
was largely composed of the landed aristocracy, who lived on 
their ancestral estates in the country. The Whig party, on the 
other hand, was largely made up of the growing merchant 
class of the city. At the particular time of the Spectator, still 
a fourth ground of difference between the two parties was 
occasioned by the war with France. This was undertaken to 
prevent a union between France and Spain and was at first 
popular with both parties. As time went on, however, the 
Tories began to oppose the prosecution of the war, since, ac- 
cording to the laws of the time, they, as the land-holding class, 
had largely to defray the cost of it. In this they were opposed 
by the Whigs, who, both for patriotic and for selfish reasons, 
desired to continue the war. Although, in the days of Addison, 
the Whigs were the growing party, they had not yet succeeded 
in overcoming the power of the Tories and the ministry passed 
alternately from the hands of one party into the hands of the 
other. Addison, though a member of the Whig party, had tried 
from the beginning to keep the Spectator out of politics and in 
the first number of that periodical announced it as his policy 



178 



Notes and Comment 



" to observe an exact neutrality between the Whigs and the 
Tories'* (6, 3-4). In this endeavor he did not, however, al- 
ways gain the cooperation of Steele, who on two occasions used 
the Spectator as a vehicle for the expression of his own Whig 
sympathies, displaying thereby a spirit of partisanship which 
offended Addison and helped to bring about the discontinuance 
of that journal. 

In this and in the following paper Addison points out the 
peculiar evils incident to this spirit of faction in the nation. 
By claiming that this spirit of party antagonism rages more 
fiercely in the country than in the city and by making Mr. Spec- 
tator the witness of several instances of it during his visit at 
Sir Roger's, Addison brings the discussion of this topic into 
relation wth the de Cover ley series. 

(Motto). 

" This thirst of kindred blood, my sons, detest, 
Nor turn your force against your country's breast." 

Virgil, ^neid, book VI, verses 833-834. 

84, 1-2. Roundheads and Cavaliers. During the period of 
the Civil War the Puritans were nicknamed " Roundheads " 
because they cut their hair short (as everybody now does) in- 
stead of allowing it to fall gracefully over their shoulders 
according to the practice of their opponents, the Cavaliers or 
Royalists. 

84, 4. St. Anne's Lane. This lane has been respectively 
identified with two lanes in Addison's day, one turning out 
of St. Peter's Street, Westminster, and the other just north of 
St. Martin's-le-Grand, near Aldersgate Street. It is probable 
that the former is the lane referred to. 

84, 9. Prick-eared cur: an epithet applied to the Puritans 
because, like the dog of that name, they wore their hair short 
so as to leave their ears uncovered. 

84, 20-21. Tend to the prejudice of the land-tax: because 
the Whigs, who favored a continuation of the war with France, 
could, by means of the land-tax, make the land-owning Tories 
pay for it. 

85, 7. Plutarch: the famous Greek historian and moralist 
(46-120). The passage referred to is entitled //oic a Man may 
be benefited by his Enemies and occurs in his Morals, pages 201 
and following, translated by Shilleto (George Bell, London, 
1898). 



Notes and Comment 179 

85, 16. That great rule: iS"^. Luke, chapter VI, verse 27. 

85, 19-21. Many good men . . . alienated from one an- 
other. Among other instances Addison may have had in mind 
his own alienation from his friend Jonathan Swift, who had 
recently gone over to the Tory party. 

86, 19. Postulatums: postulates, principles the truth of 
which is assumed or taken for granted. 

86, 30. Guelfs and Ghibellines: the two rival political 
parties in medieval Italy. The Guelfs supported the Pope; 
the Ghibellines, the Emperor. 

86, 31. The League: a French political party, known as the 
Holy Catholic League, formed in 1576 to resist the claims of 
Henry of Navarre to the throne and to check the advance of 
Protestantism. 

87, lo-ii. The "love of their country." Dr. Samuel John- 
son had the same idea in mind when he said "Patriotism is 
the last refuge of a scoundrel." 



Questions 

1. What political evil does Addison attack in this paper? 
Was thi^ evil peculiar to the England of Addison's day or 
does it appear in all nations at all times? 

2. What purpose is served by the humorous anecdote placed 
at the beginning of the paper? 

3. In what way does the quotation from Plutarch serve to 
illustrate the thought of the paper? 

4. What parallel exists between the relation of the Whigs 
to the Tories in England and that of the Guelfs to the Ghi- 
bellines in Italy? 

5. Observe how skilfully Addison demonstrates the evils of 
one single abuse by having recourse to the several devices of 
(i) anecdote, (2) quotation, and (3) historical parallel. In 
this way he succeeds admirably in combining unity with 
variety. 

XX. THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT (Continued) 

In this paper Addison continues the subject he has begun in 
the preceding paper. This continuation furnishes tlie only in- 
stance in the series in which one and the same subject is treated 
by the same author in two consecutive papers. The subject of 



i8o Notes and Comment 

the Coverley servants has, to be sure, occupied two such papers 
(Nos. VI and VII), but the first of these papers was written 
by Addison and the second by Steele. The subject of party 
spirit and the diseases it has wrought in the body politic was 
one of far greater interest to Addison than to Steele and one, 
therefore, which the former would hardly have cared to share 
with the latter. Indeed it was doubtless Addison's sense of the 
urgent need of tempering the excesses of faction that led him 
to devote two consecutive papers to this single theme. Observe, 
however, that he has avoided monotony by following a different 
method of treatment in each paper. In the first paper he diag- 
nosed the disease and in the present paper he proposes a remedy. 
By thus changing his point of view he has written two distinct 
papers upon a subject which, if treated in one, might have grown 
tiresome and would certainly have exceeded the usual length of 
a daily Spectator. 

(Motto). 

"Rutulians, Trojans are the same to me." 

— Virgil, /Eneid, book X, verse io8. 

89, 14. Diodorus Siculus: a Greek historian of the first 
century before Christ, born, as his name implies, in Sicily. He 
wrote a Historical Library in forty books. The passage re- 
ferred to occurs in book I, section xxxv. 

89, 16. Ichneumon: a small animal, shaped like the weasel. 

89, 31. His destroyer. Addison appears to have in mind 
the political enemies of the famous Duke of Marlborough who, 
five months later, had had him dismissed from the army and 
deprived of all his offices. 

90, 27. Bait: stop for refreshment. The verb "bait" is 
etymologically connected with the verb "bite" and means to 
give, usually to horses, a " bite " to eat. 

Questions 

1. By what remedy does Mr. Spectator propose to correct the 
evil of which he complained in the last paper? 

2. Should you say that the humorous resolution which he 
drafts for the signature of adherents would act to the credit 
or to the discredit of his cause? 

3. For what two reasons does Mr. Spectator draw his illus- 
trations of the bitterness of party spirit from the country 
rather than from the city? 



Notes and Comment i8i 

4. Is it true that the spirit of political faction is apt to rage 
more violently in the country than in the city? 

XXI. SIR ROGER AND THE GIPSIES 

The present paper upon gipsies belongs to the same general 
class as the paper on ghosts (No. X) and the paper on the 
Coverley witch (No. XIV). All three spring naturally from 
Mr. Spectator's visit in the country and are interesting chiefly 
as showing the effect produced by the supposedly supernatural 
upon the minds of simple country folk. These two earlier 
papers should be re-read in connection with the present paper. 
(Motto). 

** A plundering race, still eager to invade, 
On spoil they live, and make of theft a trade." 

Virgil, JEneidy book VII, verses 748-749. 

92, 11-12. Exert the justice of the peace: exert his author- 
ity as justice of the peace. 

93, 2. Crosses their hands with a piece of silver: an 
allusion to the ill-repute under which the gipsies lived. It was 
supposed that by making the sign of the cross upon the hand 
of a gipsy it would be possible to avert any evil influence that he 
might exert. 

93, 12. Jades: young women of loose habits. 

93> 19- Cassandra. Addison's application of the name Cas- 
sandra to the gipsies is inappropriate. Cassandra, daughter of 
Priam, king of Troy, was granted the gift of true prophecy but 
it was subsequently decreed that her prophecies should never 
be believed. What Addison means to assert with regard to the 
gipsies is, however, the exact converse of this, viz., that their 
prophecies, though false, are always believed. 

93, 28. Widow in his line of life. Addison here fails to 
distinguish " the line of life," by which a palmist predicts the 
age to which one will live, from the marriage line, by which 
he foretells the person or persons whom one will marry. 

93, 29. Idle baggage: worthless young flirt. The word 
"baggage," like the word "jade" (93, 12), is an instance of 
eighteenth-century slang. 

94, 4. Leer: glance. 

94, 17. Who was no conjurer: that is, no gipsy. The 
gipsies are called "conjurers" because they are supposed to 
read the future from the lines of the hand. 



1 82 Notes and Comment 

94, 29. Hackney-boat: a boat that plies for hire. The 
word "hackney" originally meant a horse kept for hire; the 
word was then applied to a coach (as in our abbreviated ex- 
pression "hack") or boat which ran for hire. 

95, II. Gave him for drowned: gave him up for drowned. 

Questions 

1. Is Sir Roger represented from the beginning as inclined 
to believe in the prophecies of the gipsies or is his credulit}' first 
aroused by the statement that he has *' a widow in his line of 
life"? 

2. What humorous eflFect is produced by introducing Sir 
Roger's experience with the beggar immediately after his inter- 
view with the gipsies ? 

3. What qualities in the character of Sir Roger are illus- 
trated by his treatment of the beggar? 

4. Do you feel that the story of the Dutch boys adventures 
improves or injures the paper? Give reasons for your answer. 



XXII. MR. SPECTATOR DECIDES TO RETURN TO 
LONDON 

This paper is the last of the seventeen papers that deal with 
Mr. Spectator's visit at Coverley Hall. It serves also as a 
transitional paper intended to connect these papers with a 
later series of seven papers that deal with a return visit which 
Sir Roger pays Mr. Spectator in London. The letter from Will 
Honeycomb and the reference therein contained to Mr. Spec- 
tator's "club" (98, 34) again call to mind the central design 
of the Spectator, and indicate that, however engrossed Steele 
and Addison may become in Sir Roger, they never allow us to 
forget altogether the other club associates of Mr. Spectator. 

( Motto ).^ 

** Once more, ye woods, adieu." 

— Virgil, Eclogue X, verse 63. 

96, 21. Spring. ** Spring " — as well as "put up," rvvo lines 
below — is, of course, a hunting term, meaning to rouse game 
from cover. 

96, 25. Foil: deaden. 

97, 3-4. Westminster. To-day Westminster and London 
are built together as one city. Administratively, however, they 



Notes and Comment 183 

have always formed two separate communities, each with a 
government of its own. In Addison's day the civil independence 
of each was emphasized by a narrow strip of open country 
which lay between them. 

97, 8-9. My love of solitude, taciturnity, and particular 
way of life. Observe with what admirable consistency refer- 
ence is repeatedly made to the original description of Mr. 
Spectator as a silent gentleman. See notes to 4, 22, and 21, 5. 

97, 19. Cunning man: a magician. Etymological ly "cun- 
ning " means " knowing." 

97, 22. " White Witch." Witches were traditionally divided 
into three classes, black, white, and gray. The first were always 
harmful, the second always helpful, and the third sometimes 
harmful and sometimes helpful. Mr. Spectator humorously 
represents himself as a '' white witch " since in curing Moll 
White of her supposedly harmful qualities he would be per- 
forming a beneficial act. 

97, 26. Harbor a Jesuit in his house. Although this is the 
first paper in the Sir Roger de Coverley series in which Mr. 
Spectator is represented as masking his identity under the dis- 
guise of a Jesuit, he has been so represented twice before 
in papers that lie outside of the series. In Spectator No. 4 that 
gentleman declares, " I was once taken up for a Jesuit, for no 
other reason but my profound taciturnity"; and in No. 44 Will 
Honeycomb says of Mr. Spectator, " I was once his bail in the 
time of the Popish plot, when he was taken up for a Jesuit." 
By these repeated allusions to the qualities with which they 
originally endowed Mr. Spectator, Steele and Addison give ad- 
mirable consistency to the character of that gentleman through- 
out the Spectator. Compare note to 97, 8-9. 

97, 34. Out of place. Addison himself was likewise a 
Whig out of place at this time. For in the preceding year he 
had, as a result of the downfall of the Whig ministry, lost his 
post as Secretary to Ireland. This passage affords another 
example of Addison's habit of weaving into his papers veiled 
allusions to political events of the day. Compare note to 89, 31. 

98, 2-3. A disaffected person. A Whig in the company of 
Tories must be '' disaffected " or out of favor with his own 
party. The expressions " disaffected person " and " popish 
priest " refer, respectively, to the " discarded Whig " and the 
" Jesuit " mentioned on the last page. 

98, 3. Popish priest. Roman Catholics were in bad repute 



184 Notes and Comment 

in England ever since the Stuart king, James II (1685-1688), 
had endeavored to force the Roman faith on his subjects. The 
Established or Anglican Church had, of course, remained 
Protestant from the days of Henry VIII ; and to keep it so the 
War of the Revolution had been fought in 1688 in order to 
place the Protestant Prince, William of Orange, on the throne. 
Although Queen Anne favored the Established Church, there 
still remained, in the days of Addison, Catholics in England 
who cherished the hope that Prince "Jamie," the exile son of 
James II, might one day be restored to the throne of his father. 
For this reason Jesuits and other adherents of Catholicism were 
still regarded with suspicion. In the opening chapters of 
Henry Esmond, Thackeray draws a vivid picture of the bold 
intrigues by which, shortly before the appearance of the Spec- 
tator, designing Jesuits sought to restore the exiled house of 
Stuart. 

99, 4-5. Stories of a cock and bull. We still apply the 
term "cock and bull story" to any event of an improbable 
nature. The papal bull bears the impression of " St. Peter," 
of whom the popes were supposed to be the successors, and of 
the " cock," which crowed when Peter denied Christ. Hence, 
after the Reformation, which discredited the decrees of the 
pope, the term " cock and bull story" would naturally be applied 
to anything in which no one believed. 

99, 11-12. Commonwealth's men. As a Whig, Sir Andrew 
would naturally inherit the traditions of the Pifritans who, 
under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, ruled England in the 
days of the Commonwealth. Compare the introductory com- 
ment to paper No. XIX. 

Questions 

1. What is the point of the extended comparison with which 
Mr. Spectator opens the present paper? 

2. Mr. Spectator says that he has made " a month's excursion 
out of town." Is it possible to verify this statement by refer- 
ence to the dates placed at the opening of each Spectator? 
How would you proceed to do so? 

3. What reasons does Mr. Spectator give for wishing to 
return to London? Explain in what way these reasons har- 
monize with what we already know of the character of Mr. 
Spectator. 



Notes and Comment 185 

XXIII. THE JOURNEY TO LONDON 

The narrative told in the following paper illustrates two 
characteristic traits of Steele, his chivalry towards women and 
his love of a moral. Steele was always a devoted admirer of 
the " fair sex " and is said to have once addressed to Mistress 
Elizabeth Hastings that most delicate of all compliments to a 
lady, " To love her is a liberal education." The genuine re- 
spect which Steele bore all womankind is brought out, in the 
present paper, in the reprimand which Ephraim, the Quaker, 
offers the recruiting officer. Steele's less admirable love of 
sermonizing is abundantly illustrated in his plays and, in the 
present paper, finds expression in the useful but obvious advice 
with which Ephraim follows up his rebuke to the recruiting- 
officer, y 

(Motto). 

" That man may be called impertinent who considers not the 
circumstances of time, or engrosses the conversation, or makes 
himself the subject of his discourse, or pays no regard to the 
company he is in." — Cicero, De Oratore, book II, section 4. 

99, 19-20. I arrived at the country town at twilight. In 
order to catch the stagecoach, which at that time ran only be- 
tween London and the larger English towns, Mr. Spectator is 
obliged to repair to a " country town " upon the stagecoach 
route. 

99, 24. Mrs. Betty Arable. " Mrs.," pronounced " mistress," 
was formerly applied to unmarried as well as to married 
women, " Miss " being reserved for very young girls. Both 
" Mrs." and " Miss " are abbreviations of the word ** mistress." 

99, 25-26. Who took a place because they were to go. 
The effrontery which the captain afterwards offers the ladies 
is thus seen to have been premeditated. 

99, 28. Ephraim: a name frequently assumed by the Quak- 
ers because '* the children of Ephraim " are said, in Psalm 
LXXVIII, verse 9, to have " turned back in the day of battle." 
The Quakers were, of course, opposed to warfare of every sort. 

100, 12. Half-pike. Pikes were formerly carried in a regi- 
ment of infantry by private soldiers as well as by captains. 
Ben Jonson trailed a pike in the Low Countries. In Addison's 
time privates were equipped with bayonets, and only officers 
carried pikes, which, moreover, were shorter than those for- 
merly used and therefore called " half-pikes." 



1 86 Notes and Comment 

100, 14. Equipage: a collective noun which properly means 
a troop of attendants but which is here satirically applied to a 
single attendant. 

100, 18. Invidious: detestable. 

100, 22-23. Sat with that dislike which people not too 
good-natured usually conceive of each other at first sight. 
In the fiction of the eighteenth century many dramatic situations 
arise from the enforced proximity of strangers on a stagecoach 
journey. 

loi, 3. Fall asleep: in pretense, not in reality. 

loi, 28. Fleer at: sneer at. 

loi, 34. Hasped up: cooped up. A "hasp" is the clasp 
used with a padlock, and the phrase literally means *' locked 
up." 

102, 8. Smoky: suspicious. Another example of eighteenth- 
century slang. Compare the note to 93, 29. 

102, 15-16. Our reckonings, apartments, and accommo- 
dation. Since it took three days to make the journey from 
Worcester to London and since the coach never traveled by 
night, such matters as these had to be taken into account. 

102, 1 8-20. The right we had of taking place as going to 
London of all vehicles coming from thence: that is, coaches 
going to London had the right of way over those coming 
from London. Owing to the deep ruts and heavy mud which 
lined the road on both sides, there was not room enough in the 
middle for two coaches to pass one another. 

102, 34. His refers to " man." 

103, 8. Thee and I. The use of the objective "thee" in 
place of the nominative "thou" is a characteristic of Quaker 
speech. Though commonly regarded as ungrammatical, it is 
no more so than our use in the plural of the objective "you" 
in place of the nominative "ye." 

Questions 

1. What three persons engage in the dispute that takes place 
in the stagecoach? What is the occasion of the dispute? 

2. Does Steele describe these three persons as individuals or 
as representatives of certain types or classes of society? 

3. Would you expect Addison to describe these three char- 
acters in the same way that Steele describes them? What would 
have been the difference? 



Notes and Comment 187 

4. Why should we object to the moral tag at the end of 
this little narrative? Does Steele limit his love of moralizing 
to the parting advice which the Quaker gives the recruiting 
officer or does he allow it to appear in earlier portions of the 
paper as well? 

XXIV. SIR ROGER AND SIR ANDREW IN ARGUMENT 

The easy victory which Sir Andrew wins from Sir Roger 
clearly indicates on which side of the argument Steele's sym- 
pathies lay. As already observed (note to lo, 31), the Whig 
affiliations of the author would naturally dispose him to favor 
the merchants of the city as against the squires of the country. It 
is worthy of note that the argument in question is not brought 
into chronological harmony with Mr. Spectator's return to 
London, since it is said to have occurred at a meeting of the 
club held "last winter" (104, 4) and therefore during a 
former visit of Sir Roger in London, prior to his reception of 
Mr. Spectator at Coverley Hall. 

(Motto). 

" The whole debate in memory I retain, 
When Thyrsis argued warmly but in vain." 

Virgil, Eclogue VII, verse 69. 

103, 21. The old Roman fable: the revolt of the minor 
members of the body against the belly, told by Livy, History 
of Rome, book II, chapter xxxii, and, later, by Shakespeare, 
Coriolanus, act I, scene i, verses 99 and following. 

104, 8-9. Carthaginian faith: a phrase first used by the 
Romans to characterize the perfidy of the Carthaginians. 

104, 15. Cozenage: trickery. 
i05> 5- Carmen: cart-drivers. 

105, 7-8. In their respective motions: in the pursuit of 
their respective callings. 

106, 6: Break: fail. 

107, 2. Assurance: insurance. 

107, 2-3. The custom to the queen: the customs or im- 
port duties. 

108, 5-6. His descent from the maid of honor: a refer- 
ence, of course, to the merchant whose picture hung among the 
Coverley portraits but whose blood relationship to the family 
was indignantly denied by Sir Roger. See 40, 32-41, 6. 



1 88 Notes and Comment 

Questions 



^ 



1. What is the subject of the debate between Sir Roger and 
Sir Andrew? Which side does each disputant espouse? 

2. Does the " old Roman fable " form a fitting introduction to 
the subject of the debate? If so, in what way? 

3. Can you pick any flaw^s in the arguments advanced by 
Sir Roger against the merchant class? 

4. Does Captain Sentry prove himself altogether tactful in his 
attempts to put an end to the debate? If not, why not? 

5. Does Sir Andrew in his defense of the *' trading interest " 
ever take unfair advantage of Sir Roger? If so, in what re- 
spects does he do so? 

6. Does Steele's treatment of the animosity between the landed 
gentry and the trading class betray more or less bias than Addi- 
son's treatment of the opposition between the Whigs and Tories 
in Nos. XIX and XX? Give reasons for your answer? 

XXV. SIR ROGER VISITS LONDON 

This paper, like the earlier paper upon Mr. Spectator's deci- 
sion to return to London (No. XXII), is a transitional paper 
As the former paper terminated the series of seventeen papers 
that dealt with Mr. Spectator's experience at Coverley Hall, 
so this paper opens the series of seven papers that deal with 
Sir Roger's doings in London. It is to be observed that, whereas 
Steele wrote three out of the seventeen papers in the earlier 
series, none of the papers in this later series is by his hand. 
It would thus appear that as time went on Addison came to re- 
gard Sir Roger as his own peculiar property and to feel less and 
less disposed to allow Steele to take a hand in the series that 
record his adventures. This inference is further borne out by the 
facetious remark which Addison once made to a friend with 
regard to the death of Sir Roger in the last de Coverley paper. 
"I'll kill [him]," he said, "that nobody else may murder him.'* 

(Motto). 

" Most rare is now our old simplicity." 

Ovid, Art of Love, book I, verses 241-242. 

108, 23. Gray's Inn Walks. The walks and gardens of 
Gray's Inn (9, 6-7) were a fashionable promenade on summer 
evenings. 



I 



Notes and Comment 189 

109, 2. Prince Eugene: Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), a 
famous Austrian general, who served as an ally of Marlborough 
in the war against France. The Tories, who had come into 
power in lyio, looked with disfavor upon the continuance of 
the war and, on December 31, 1711, recalled Marlborough from 
the field. Shortly after — just three days before the publication 
of this paper — Prince Eugene came to England upon a futile 
attempt to urge the continuance of the war and the restoration 
of Marlborough to command. 

109, 7. Eugenic: Prince Eugene frequently signed himself 
" Eugenio von Savoye." 

109, 8. Scanderberg: properly Scanderbeg, a corruption of 
Iskender Bey (Prince Alexander), the name under which George 
Castriota (1403-1467), a noted Albanian chief, was known to 
his enemies, the Turks. 

109, 26-27. Incomparable sermon out of Doctor Barrow. 
See the note to 29, 31. 

109, 29. Thirty marks: twenty pounds. A mark, like a 
guinea, was not an actual coin but a mere standard of value, 
representing thirteen shillings fourpence. 

109, 33. Tobacco stopper: a small plug, made of wood or 
bone, to pack the tobacco in the bowl of a pipe. 

no, 5. Taken the law of him. See note to 75, 9. 

no, 18. Chines: dishes made of the backbone of the hogs. 

no, 29. Small beer: a beer so called because it was weak, 
not because it was served in small glasses. 

no, 34. Smutting: soiling one another's clothes with dirty 
hands. 

Ill, 5-6. The late Act of Parliament for securing the 
Church of England. This Act, passed by a Tory parliament 
in 1711, was aimed against the Dissenters. It was designed 
to reinforce the Test Act, passed in 1673. The Test Act was 
so called because it imposed as a requirement or " test " for 
holding a civil office that one should receive the sacrament ac- 
cording to the forms of the Church of England. But many Dis- 
senters had proved willing to " occasionally conform " to this 
requirement in order to obtain office. The present Act was ac- 
cordingly passed in order to put an end to this practice of 
" occasional conformity " by forbidding anyone who had ever 
attended a conventicle, or Dissenters' meeting, from holding any 
office under the government. 



190 Notes and Comment 

III, 10. Plum-porridge: extreme Dissenters objected to all 
Christmas festivities as smacking of Romish idolatry. 

Ill, 19. The Pope's Procession. November 17, the anni- 
versary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth, had long been 
celebrated by a parade in which an effigy of the Pope was 
burned. An unusually impressive celebration of this anniversary 
had been planned for the preceding November by the Whigs on 
account of the expected return of Marlborough ; but the Tory 
authorities, with whom Marlborough was not in favor, had 
gotten wind of the plan and caused the preparations to be 
suppressed. 

Ill, 30. Baker's Chronicle. See note to 20, 23. 

111, 32. Redound to the honor of this prince. Addison 
is here in error. Since Baker published his Chronicle in 1643 
he could not have made mention of Prince Eugene, who was not 
born until 1663. 

112, 2. Squire's: a coffee-house kept by a man named Squire. 
It was situated near Gray's Inn and was frequented by lawyers. 

112, 9. The Supplement: an independent newspaper of that 
name, issued Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and not a 
" supplement '* or " extra edition '' of another paper. 

112, 10. The boys: the waiters. The French word " gargon " 
means either a boy or a waiter. 



Questions 

1. As a transitional paper, intended merely to connect what 
has gone before with what comes afterwards, the present paper 
records no new events. Nevertheless Addison is not at a loss 
for material with which to fill the paper. Of what subject- 
matter does he avail himself for this purpose? 

2. Can you give any reasons why Mr. Spectator should not 
entertain Sir Roger at his own lodgings in return for the hos- 
pitality he has received at Coverley Hall? 

3. What several items of news does Sir Roger relate to Mr. 
Spectator at Gray's Inn Walks? 

4. Which of these items of news might have proved distaste- 
ful to a man of Mr. Spectator's political views? In what spirit 
does Mr. Spectator receive them? Would Sir Andrew have re- 
ceived them in the same spirit? Why not? 



Notes and Comment 191 

XXVI. PIN-MONEY 

The present paper, like that upon "Leonora's Library" (No. 
IV), belongs to the large class of Spectators in which, with 
Jnimitably light and playful touch, Addison satirizes all forms 
of feminine folly and affectation. As, in the foregoing paper, 
he ridiculed the " learned lady " and as, in the present paper, he 
pokes fun at the " extravagant lady," so in other papers, which 
lie outside the de Coverley series, he is good-naturedly jocose 
at the expense of the high head-dress, the '' hoop " petticoat, the 
fan with " gilded cupids," and the bursts of patches with which 
ladies were accustomed to adorn either the right or the left 
cheek according to the Whig or Tory sympathies of the wearer. 
In fact in a very early number of the Spectator Addison had 
already given evidence of a desire to supply papers of the type 
under consideration. In Spectator No. lo he writes: "But there 
are none to whom this paper will be more useful than to the 
female world. I have often thought there has not been sufficient 
pains taken in finding out proper employments and diversions 
for the fair ones. Their amusements seem contrived for them 
rather as they are women than as they are reasonable creatures; 
and are more adapted to the sex than to the species. The toilet 
is their great scene of business, and the right adjusting of their 
hair the principal employment of their lives. The sorting of a 
suit of ribands is reckoned a very good morning's work; and 
if they make an excursion to a mercer's or a toy-shop, so great a 
fatigue makes them unfit for anything else all the day after." 
As in the paper upon Leonora's Library, a casual allusion to 
Sir Roger supplies a sufficient excuse for including this second 
example of a type of paper unmatched for delicate irony in 
the entire compass of our literature. 
(Motto). 
" But womankind, that never knows a mean, 
Down to the dregs their sinking fortunes drain; 
Hourly they give, and spend, and waste, and wear, 
And think no pleasure can be bought too dear." 

— Juvenal, Satire VI, verses 362-365. 
112, 15. I am turned of my great climacteric: that is, "I 
am passed sixty-three," a year in which some great change was 
supposed to take place in one's health or fortune. Mr. Fribble 
means to say that he is now beyond the vicissitudes of earthly 
fortune. 



192 Notes and Comment 



113, 23. Grotius: Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), a famous Dutch 
jurist. 

113, 23. Pufendorf: Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694), a Ger- 
man jurist. 

113, 23. Civilians: students of the Roman or civil law. . 

113, 25. Josiah Fribble, Esq. The ludicrous name of the 
writer of this letter, as well as the delicate play of Addisonian 
humor evident in the letter itself, indicates that Mr. Fribble 
was not one of the real persons to whom, as remarked in the 
note to 7, 17, Mr. Spectator was occasionally indebted for cor- 
respondence. 

114, 13. Head: a pun upon the word "head," which is here 
used in the double sense of the " head " of a pin and the " head," 
or topic, of a discourse. 

114, 23. Groat: an English silver coin of the nominal value 
of fourpence. The lady is supposed to spend £400 a year upon 
pins. If one groat will buy 365 pins, £400 would obviously 
buy 8,760,000 pins. The discrepancy between this result and the 
8,640,000 mentioned by Addison is evidently due, not to Addi- 
son's faulty arithmetic, but to the fact that a groat was worth 
something less than fourpence. 

115, 3. Churl: a niggard. 

115, 5. Alimony: the allowance paid to a woman by her 
former husband after separation. 

116, 7. Socrates in Plato's Alcibiades. In his dialogue en- 
titled Alcibiades, the Greek philosopher Plato represents his 
master Socrates as repeating this story. The story, which Addi- 
son translates quite literally, may be found in Jowett's transla- 
tion of Plato's Dialogues, volume II, page 490 (the Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1892). 



Questions 

1. Is not this paper calculated to offend Mr. Spectator's 
female readers? If so, how could he hope to make such a 
paper "useful to the female world".'* 

2. Should you judge that Mr. Spectator is unduly severe in 
his strictures upon the extravagance of the women of his day? 

3. Point out any resemblances or differences between this 
paper and the paper upon A Lady's Library (No. IV). 



Notes and Comment 193 

XXVII. SIR ROGER IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY 

No other de Coverley paper contains so characteristic a de- 
lineation of Sir Roger as the present one. If all the other 
papers in the series were missing, this single paper would still 
be enough to immortalize the name of the Worcestershire 
knight. The delightful simplicity of Sir Roger is nowhere bet- 
ter illustrated than in his remark that '' the two coronation 
chairs " would afford Will Wimble a good opportunity to carve 
a tobacco-stopper. But in spite of the humorous irrelevancy of 
this observation, Sir Roger is a genuine patriot at heart and 
the concluding invitation which he extends to his guide to visit 
him at his lodgings and " talk over there matters more at 
leisure " indicates that he has been duly impressed with what 
he has seen there. 

(Motto). 

" With Ancus and with Numa, kings of Rome, 
We must descend into the silent tomb." 

Horace, Epistles, book I, epistle VI, verse 27. 

117, 5-6. My paper upon Westminster Abbey: Spectator 
No. 26. 

117, 20. The Widow Trueby's water: a patent "strong 
water " which, like certain temperance drinks of to-day, owed 
its popularity to the fact that it was considerably less harmless 
than it seemed. 

118, lo-ii. The sickness being at Dantzic: the great plague 
there in 1709. 

118, 13. Hackney-coach. See note to 94, 29. 

119, 10. Sir Cloudesley Shovel: a gallant English admiral 
drowned off the Scilly Isles in 1707. 

119, 12. Busby's Tomb: Richard Busby (1606-1695), for 
fifty-five years headmaster of Westminster school. He was a 
severe but successful disciplinarian and used to say that "the 
rod was his sieve and that whoever could not pass through that 
was no boy for him." 

119, 17-18. The little chapel on the right: St. Edmund's, 
on the south aisle of the choir. The chapel was named after 
St. Edmund, King of the East Anglians (840-870). 

119, 20-21. The lord who had cut off the King of Mo- 
rocco's head. This inscription formerly stood over the tomb 
of Sir Bernard Brocas, beheaded on Tower Hill, in 1399. 

119, 23. Cecil upon his knees. William Cecil (1520-1-598), 



194 Notes and Comment 

Lord Burleigh, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth. He is 
represented " on his knees " at the magnificent tomb of his wife 
and daughter. This tomb, however, is not in St. Edmund's 
chapel, but in the adjoining chapel of St. Nicholas. 

119, 25-26. Who died by the prick of a needle. This 
story was formerly told of Lady Elizabeth Russell, whose tomb 
is in St. Edmund's chapel. She is represented as pointing her 
forefinger at a death's head on the pedestal at her feet. 

119, 32. The two coronation chairs. They are in the 
chapel of Edward the Confessor, which forms the East end of 
the choir. One chair is said to have belonged to Edward I; 
in it every English king has been crowned ever since. The 
other chair was made for Queen Mary, when she was crowned 
with her husband, William IIL 

ii9» 33-120, 1. The stone . . . brought from Scotland: 
a block of sandstone brought from Scone to Westminster Abbey 
by Edward I in 1296. Formerly most of the early Scottish 
kings had been crowned upon it. The stone is now fittingly 
placed beneath the old coronation chair of Edward L 

120, 6. Pay his forfeit: an admirable satire upon the guide 
who makes use of his avarice to conceal his ignorance. 

120, 7. Trepanned: caught. 

120, 13-14. Edward the Third's sword. It stands between 
the two coronation chairs. 

120, 15. The Black Prince: Edward, the eldest son of 
Edward III, who died before his father in 1376. He is buried, 
not in the Abbey, but in the cathedral at Canterbury. 

120, 21. Touched for the evil: scrofula, called "king's 
evil '* because supposed to be cured by the touch of the legiti- 
mate sovereign. Queen Anne, the last English sovereign to 
ascend the throne by right of descent as distinguished from 
Act of Parliament, was likewise the last sovereign who 
"touched" for the evil. 

120, 25-26. One of our English kings without an head: 
Henry V. The head, which was of solid silver, was stolen by 
misguided Puritans in the reign of Henry VIII. 

120, 32. Knight: As a baronet (7, 25), Sir Roger was 
necessarily a " knight." Every baronet is a knight but not 
every knight is a baronet. 

121, 12-13. His lodgings in Norfolk Buildings. See tl 
note to 8, 11. 



Notes and Comment 195 

Questions 

1. What was the nature of Baker's Chronicle? (See the note 
to 20, 23.) Why does Sir Roger refer so often to this work in 
the present paper? 

2. Is Sir Roger an intelligent observer of the monuments in 
Westminster Abbey? Is it the important or the unimportant 
details that excite his chief interest? 

3. In what ways does Sir Roger give expression to the 
patriotic emotions with which he is inspired during his visit 
to the Abbey? 

4. In what former paper (outside of the de Coverley series) 
has Addison described Westminster Abbey? (See the note to 
117) 5"6.) Read this paper in connection with the present one. 

XXVIII. SIR ROGER UPON BEARDS 

This paper, as well as the paper upon the Coverley Hunt 
(No. XIII), is written by Eustace Budgell, the young friend 
and kinsman of Addison. Budgell imitated the style of Addi- 
son so skilfully that it is difficult to distinguish his contributions 
from those of his master. Both the exquisite humor of this 
paper as well as the skill displayed in making much out of 
little are traits characteristic of Addison. 

(Motto). 

" Holds out his foolish beard for thee to pluck." 

— Persius, Satire II, verse 28. 

121, 26. Smock-faced: womanish-looking. 

122, 12. Lucian: a famous Greek satirist (120-180). 

122, 17. iElian: Claudius ^lianus, a Roman rhetorician of 
the second century after Christ. The anecdote referred to occurs 
in his Various History, book XI, chapter 10. 

122, 17. Zoilus: a Greek grammarian of the fourth century 
before Christ, surnamed " Homeromastix '* or the " Scourge of 
Homer " from his bitter criticism of that author. 

122, 28. In his effigies before the book: in his likeness, 
as frontispiece, on the title-page of the book. 

123, 4. Don Quevedo: Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645), 
a famous Spanish satirist. 

123, 17-18. Cardinal Pole: Reginald Pole (1500-1558), a 
famous English Roman Catholic prelate and an active persecutor 
of the Protestants in the reign of "Bloody" Queen Mary. He 



196 Notes and Comment 

was first made an English cardinal and afterwards, under 
Mary, Archbishop of Canterbury. 

123, 18. Bishop Gardiner: Stephen Gardiner (1493-1555), 
like Cardinal Pole, an English Roman Catholic prelate and 
persecutor of the Protestants under Mary. 

123, 27. Hudibras: the hero of a famous satire against the 
Puritans, likewise entitled Hudibras, by Samuel Butler (1612- 
1680). The lines occur in part I, canto I, verses 241-246. 

124, 13-14. .ffisculapius: the Greek god of medicine and the 
art of healing. 



Questions 

1. By what means is the subject of beards brought into re- 
lation with Sir Roger's visit in London? 

2. What assertion does Mr. Spectator make with reference 
to beards? What several examples does he cite in support of 
the truth of this assertion? 

3. What whimsical proposal does Mr. Spectator make in the 
final paragraph? Is it natural that he should have selected 
a proposal which has reference to horseback riding? (See 
No. XIII.) 

XXIX. SIR ROGER AT THE PLAY 

[ Like the papers upon the Cover ley Portraits (No. IX), A 
Sunday iLith Sir Roger (No. XI), and Sir Roger at JVestminster 
Abbey (No. XXVII), the present paper is peculiarly successful 
in bringing out that quality of artless simplicity which is, per- 
haps, the most marked characteristic of Sir Roger. The sur- 
prise that the knight expresses when he finds that he can under- 
stand the conversation of the actors in the play, rrminds us 
of the bravery of that ancestor who so narrowly escaped death 
at the battle of Worcester, the fashioning of a tobacco-stopper 
out of the coronation chairs at Westminster Abbey, and a num- 
ber of other instances of an equally delicious naivete. 

(Motto). 

''Keep Nature's great original in view, 
And thence the living images pursue." 

Horace, Art of Poetry, verses 317-318. 

124, 25. The new tragedy. This is the play which Sir 
Roger attends and which is described in the present paper. 



I 



Notes and Comment 197 

It is entitled the Distressed Mother and was written by Ambrose 
Philips (1675-1749), a popular but by no means remarkable 
dramatist of the day. The play was first acted at Drury Lane 
Theater on March 17, 1712, just eight days before the perform- 
ance which Sir Roger is supposed to attend, and was supplied 
with a prologue by Steele and with an epilogue by Addison. 
The plot of the play was taken by Philips from that of the 
Andromaque, a play by Racine, the distinguished French 
dramatist. The play opens at Troy immediately after the de- 
struction of that city by the Greeks and deals with the fortunes 
of Andromache, widow of Hector, the bravest of the Trojans. 
The Greek victor Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, has just captured 
Andromache and tries to induce her to marry him with the 
promise that her young son Astyanax shall become the future 
king of Troy. She yields a reluctant consent, being secretly 
resolved to kill herself before that event. The catastrophe of 
the tragedy is brought about in the following manner. Pyrrhus, 
it seems, is loved by the Greek maiden Hermione, who, enraged 
with jealousy because of his attentions to Andromache, incites 
the Greeks to revolt against him. The Greek warrior Orestes 
slays Pyrrhus and then goes mad; Hermione commits suicide; 
and Andromache is thus saved from the designs against her 
honor. 

125, I. The Committee: a comedy by Sir Robert Howard 
(1626-1698). It satirizes the Puritans and is therefore termed 
by Sir Roger " a good church of England comedy." 

125, 10. The Mohocks: a band of dissolute young gentle- 
men who roamed the streets by night, playing mischievous tricks 
upon the weak and defenseless for the sake of their own 
amusement. One of their favorite pastimes was to roll old 
women downhill in hogsheads. They were particularly active 
during the month in which this paper was written, and man> 
complaints were being made against them. See the Spectator 
Nos. 324, 332, and 347. 

125, 27. Norfolk Street. See the note to 8, 11. 

125, 32. That we may be at the house before it is full. 
See note to 9, 33. 

126, 3-4. The battle of Steenkirk: a battle in which the 
English were defeated by the French near Steenkirk, a small 
town in Belgium, on August 3, 1692. A "steenkirk" was the 
name afterward applied to a loose, neglige style of cravat made 
in Paris and so named out of compliment to the French soldiers 



198 Notes and Comment 

who, in their eagerness for battle, did not stop to array them- 
selves in careful military attire. 

126, 6. Plants: cudgels. 

127, 3. Pyrrhus his threatening: Pyrrhus's threatening. In 
and before the eighteenth century, " his " was often used in- 
stead of " s " as a sign of the genitive or possessive case of 
the noun. The word, though written like the pronoun, was never 
pronounced " his," but either " s " or " es." 

127, 28. Baggage. See the note to 93, 29. 

128, I. Pylades: bosom friend of Orestes. Like the phrases 
" David and Jonathan " and " Damon and Pythias," the phrase 
" Orestes and Pylades" is used to describe a very close intimacy 
between friends. 

128, 4-5. The old fellow in whiskers: Phoenix, counsellor 
to Pyrrhus. Altogether he speaks about sixty-five verses in the 
play. 

128, 8. Smoke the knight: make fun of the knight by asking 
him ridiculous questions. Another instance of eighteenth-cen- 
tury slang. See the note to 93, 29. 

128, 13-14. It was not done upon the stage. As Addison 
very well knew, but Sir Roger did not, it was a cardinal maxim 
in Greek tragedy that murders should never be performed upon 
the stage. In this English play, which was, of course, ultimately 
derived from the Greek, the convention is still observed. 



Questions 

1. Why did Addison select the Distressed Mother as the par- 
ticular play for Sir Roger to witness? 

2. What characteristic of Sir Roger has Mr. Spectator in 
mind when he represents him as standing up to observe the audi- 
ence at this play.'* On what previous occasion has he represented 
Sir Roger as performing the same operation at a public 
assembly? 

3. To what peculiarity of tragic diction has Addison refer- 
ence when he represents Sir Roger as asking the question, 
''Should your people in tragedy always talk to be understood?" 

4. Read in connection with Sir Roger's criticism of the Dis- 
tressed Mother the equally famous piece of ''natural criticism" 
made by Partridge upon a performance of Hamlet in Fielding's 
Tom Jones, book XVI, chapter V. 



Notes and Comment 199 

XXX. WILL HONEYCOMB AND THE LADIES 

In this paper Budgell again assumes the role of Mr. Spectator. 
Although this is only his third contribution to the Sir Roger 
series, he nevertheless exhibits an acquaintance with earlier 
papers in the series which would have done justice to one who, 
like Steele and Addison, had been a regular contributor from 
the beginning. The references herein contained to Sir Roger's 
relations to the widow harmonize most accurately with Steele's 
treatment of this topic in Nos. XII and XV. 

(Motto). 

" Lions the wolves, wolves the kids pursue, 
The kids, sweet thyme — and still I follow you." 

— Virgil, Eclogue II, verses 63-64. 

130, 5. Amours. Notice how consistently Will Honeycomb 
plays the part of the old beau. See introductory comment to 
No. IL 

130, 16. The old put: the old fool. A further example of 
eighteenth-century slang. See the notes to 93, 29, and 128, 8. 

130, 23-24. Her attorney in Lyon's Inn. It is evident that 
the widow's attorney could not have been a particularly dis- 
tinguished member of the bar, for he belonged to Lyon's Inn, 
one of the minor legal societies, known as Inns of Chancery, 
whence one might be advanced to one of the major legal so- 
cieties, known as Inns of Court. This somewhat slighting allu- 
sion to the professional status of the widow's legal adviser is 
not, of course, intended as an altogether unmixed compliment 
to the widow herself. 

131, 3. Miss Jenny. The epithet *' Miss," in contrast to the 
more dignified " Mistress," is used by Will Honeycomb with a 
tinge of contempt, to signify his vexation at losing the lady. See 
the note to 99, 22. 

131, 9-10. Such a spindle pair of legs as Mr. Honeycomb. 
A sudden humorous sally in which Budgell shows himself an 
apt pupil of his master Addison. 

131, 26-27. The book I had considered last Saturday: 
the tenth book of Paradise Lost, " considered " by Addison in 
Spectator No. 357. The advantage which Budgell here takes 
of a recent paper contributed to the Spectator not by himself 
but by Addison is but another example of the skill with which 
he manages to fit his own paper into a series mainly written 
by others. 



200 Notes and Comment 

131, 28. Milton. Addison was a diligent student of Milton 
and contributed to the Spectator a series of critical papers upon 
Paradise Lost which, in spite of minor defects, not only delighted 
his own age, but still serves as an inspiration to present-day 
readers of that great poem. 

132, 20-21. Told us that he would read over these verses 
again before he went to bed. One of the most striking 
peculiarities of Sir Roger is the length of time it takes him to 
grasp a new idea. This trait is illustrated by his desire to 
" read over " the verses of Milton in his own apartment as 
well as by the invitation which he extended to his guide to 
talk over the sights of Westminster Abbey with him " more at 
leisure" in his own lodgings (121, 12-14). This extreme de- 
liberateness is a marked characteristic of the English country 
squire, who has always been a rather hea\'>-, dull-witted in- 
dividual, slow to receive impressions to which he is not accus- 
tomed. 

Questions 

1. Name the several members of Mr. Spectator's club. Was 
Will Honeycomb among them? 

2. In what earlier de CoTerley paper were these members 
described? What was there said of the character of Wi!l 
Honeycomb ? 

3. Enumerate the several love experiences of Will Honey- 
comb. Do these experiences harmonize with what has previously 
been said of Will Honeycomb's character? In what respects? 



XXXI. SIR ROGER AT VAUXHALL 

In this paper Addison brings to an end his account of the 
experiences of Sir Roger in London. Like the papers mentioned 
in the introductory comment to No. XXIX, the present paper 
abounds in those exhibitions of artless simplicity which make 
Sir Roger one of the most delightfully humorous creations in 
all literature. His remark to the effect that ''church work is 
slow, church work is slow," uttered with the deliberate em- 
phasis of one who has something new to impart, will last as 
long as the English language. 



Notes and Comment 201 

(Motto). 

" A beauteous garden, but by vice maintained." 

Juvenal, Satire I, verse 75. 

I33» 2. Spring Garden: also called Vauxhall or Fox-hall 
(133, 28). This was a famous eighteenth-century pleasure 
garden in which people gathered for music, refreshments, and 
social intercourse. Vauxhall was situated on the south side of 
the Thames near the present Vauxhall Bridge. It was first 
opened in 1661 and finally closed in 1857. 

133, 12. The Temple Stairs: the boat landing nearest Sir 
Roger's lodgings in Norfolk Street. 

133, 23. My livery. See the note to 33, 32-33. 

133, 28. Fox-hall. See the note to 133, 2. 

i33> 30- La Hogue. The combined Dutch and English 
fleets defeated the French fleet in an engagement off Cape La 
Hogue, on the northwest coast of France, on May 19, 1692. 

134, 3. London Bridge: the most easterly of the three 
bridges that spanned the Thames in Addison's day. There are 
now nine such bridges. 

134, 4. The seven wonders of the world. These are: the 
Egyptian pyramids, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple 
of Artemis at Ephesus, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the 
Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus at Rhodes, and the 
Pharos, or lighthouse, at Alexandria. 

134, II. Temple Bar: a gateway which divided Fleet Street 
which lay to the east, from the Strand, which lay to the west, 
and separated the business section of London, known as the 
" city," in which Sir Roger's Norfolk lodgings were situated, 
from the more fashionable section of London to the west, in 
which Vauxhall was located. As Sir Roger passes westward 
in his boat upon the Thames, he observes the contrast between 
the large number of churches in the former section of London, 
in which he embarked, and the scarcity of churches in the latter 
section of the city, past which he is just now journeying on his 
way to Vauxhall. 

134, 13. The fifty new churches: granted by an Act of 
the Tory Parliament in the preceding year. 

134, 23. Knight of the shire. See the note to 41, 16. 

134, 30. Old put. See the note to 130, 16. 

I34» 31-32. Thames ribaldry: the coarse language char- 
acteristic of Thames boatmen. 

134, 34. Middlesex justice: instead of being, as he is, a 



202 Notes and Comment 



Worcestershire justice (7, 24-25; 9, i). Middlesex is the county 
in which London is situated. 

135, 4. At this time of year: that is, towards the end of 
May, when this paper was written. 

135, 8. Mohametan paradise, because the chief attraction 
of the Mohametan heaven are the " black-eyed " houris, whose 
beauty, Addison might have added, unlike that of the women 
at Vauxhall, never grows old. 

135, 17. A mask: one whose face was disguised in a mask. 

135, 22. A wanton baggage: a dissolute young flirt. See 
the note to 93, 29. 

i35> 33- A member of the quorum. See the note to 9, i. 

136, 3. Strumpets: loose women. 

Questions 

1. What characteristic of Mr. Spectator, mentioned in the 
introductory description of that gentleman in the first de Coverley 
paper, is twice alluded to in the present paper? 

2. What act of benevolence does Sir Roger perform on his 
way to Vauxhall? On what previous occasion has he performed 
a similar act of charity? 

3. By what remarks does Sir Roger betray his simpleminded- 
ness and ignorance of the world? On what previous occasions 
has he made similarly ingenuous remarks? 

4. By what observations does Sir Roger reveal his love of 
country? On what previous occasions has he revealed a sim- 
ilarly patriotic disposition? 

5. On what two occasions is Sir Roger insulted? Does he 
show himself capable of self-protection on these occasions or 
is he obliged to rely upon Mr. Spectator for aid? 



XXXII. DEATH OF SIR ROGER 

By the time that this paper was written, Steele and Addison 
had decided to bring the Spectator to a conclusion. Accordingly, 
in the present paper Addison makes an end of Sir Roger, and 
in this and in the papers that follow disposes in turn of each 
of the surviving members of the club. Thus in the present 
paper Captain Sentry retires to Sir Roger's estate; in No. 530 
Will Honeycomb forsakes the club to marry a farmer's daugh- 
ter; in No. 541 the Templar abandons his club associates to 



I 



Notes and Comment 203 

return to the study of law; in No. 549 Sir Andrew Freeport 
withdraws from business to devote his remaining days to 
charity; and in No. 550 the clergyman is reported dead. 
Thus Mr. Spectator remains the sole member of the club, and in 
No. 555 he, too, makes his final bow to the reader. 
(Motto). 

** Mirror of ancient faith ! 
Undaunted worth! Inviolable truth! " 

— Virgil, Mneid, book VI, verse 878. 
136, 12. County sessions. See the note to 75, 7. 

136, 17. Captain Sentry. As we afterwards learn (138, 
3-9), he is Sir Roger^s nephew and heir and would, therefore, 
naturally be on hand at Coverley Hall at the death of his 
uncle. 

137, 25. Frieze: a heavy woolen material. 

137, 42-138, I. Six of the quorum. See the note to 9, i. 

138, 9. Quit-rents: a rent which one pays in order to get 
"quit'* or free of other services. 

138, 24-25. Manner of writing it. The butler's English is 
by no means as poor as Mr. Spectator would have us believe. 
Although an uneducated man and writing under a qevere 
emotional strain, he makes but few mistakes. Pick out these 
mistakes and correct them. 

138, 29. The Act of Uniformity. An Act which would 
naturally please a Tory like Sir Roger because it provided that 
a clergyman should be deprived of his office unless he were 
willing to assent to everything in the Book of Common Prayer. 

138, 37. Rings and mourning. It was customary in Addi- 
son's day for a man about to die to leave by will rings, gloves, 
and hatbands to be worn by the mourners at his funeral. 

Questions 

1. In Greek tragedy the actors were killed off the stage. 
Apply this principle to the death of Sir Roger. 

2. Who informs Mr. Spectator of Sir Roger's death? Why 
should this particular person have been chosen to communicate 
the news to Mr. Spectator? 

3. In what respects may Sir Roger be said to have departed 
this life in the same spirit that he had lived it? 

4. To what several persons does Sir Roger bequeath his 
property and what does he give to each? Which of these be- 



204 Notes and Comment 

quests came as the fulfilment of promises made to the recipients 
beforehand? 

5. Which one of Sir Roger*s club associates might we expect 
to be least affected by the news of his death ? Is this expectation 
realized? If not, why not? 



I 



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